Heads or Tails
by umk
Summary: I hate Gray. I hate him so much it's almost sad, but that really didn't stop him from diving face first into my life like he belonged in it in the first place. High school AU with world's most OOC Juvia.
1. That's the general idea

**Heads or Tails**

**(Tumblr prompt, write the most OOC Juvia you have ever written.)**

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><p><em>Breathe in, breathe out. That's it Juvia, only three more months of this to go.<em>

Who am I fucking kidding, school is hell. Breathing isn't going to help, so might as well suck in a breath and get this over with.

Twisting open my locker, I sifted through the strewn about papers to retrieve my Government supplies. Government blows, the only person I know there is Erza and we sit really far away so the only thing we can do is share '_are you fucking serious' _looks when Natsu decides it's an excellent idea to break into song in the middle of class.

Right. Fuck me into a different dimension.

I might enjoy school more if I wasn't as antisocial as I happened to be, but, life being life, I would rather gouge my eyes out with blunt forks than talk to the brainless generation that I happen to belong to.

Super, duper unfortunate for me, apparently, in this generation, I am considered 'hot'. What does that even mean? Do I have a nice face? Is my lengthy, wavy blue hair somehow enticing to the opposing gender? Do my long, creamy legs tempt boys to jump me in the hall? Does my larger-than-average bust appeal to males?

Okay, so maybe I do get where they're coming from. But, my 'bitch face', as Lucy _so kindly _nicknamed my 24/7 facial expression, tended to scare people off when they even came near me to ask for a pencil.

Oops.

To _some _people though, I'm invisible. Good. I don't want to be seen by any of these freaks anyways.

However, there is _one_ soul who I wouldn't mind getting even a little bit of positive attention from.

There is _one _secret I harbor from my estranged group of friends.

And that secret is Gray Fullbuster.

Now, if you ever met me in life you would think _why the __**fuck **__would Juvia Lockser even think about an air-headed dumbass who's only talent is whacking a stick at a puck aggressively until it flies into a plastic-based net for sport?_

And the simple answer is, I have the world's biggest fucking soft cottony crush on him.

…Okay, so maybe it's not so simple after all.

Over the almost four years of fuck-me-over-sideways shit everyone calls 'high school', I have just slowly fallen under the spell of Gray Fullbuster. How you ask? Well…oh god, this is going to sound extremely creepy, but it really isn't, I swear. I've sort of…watched him.

I don't really remember the first time I saw him, but I do remember thinking _well Jesus fucking jolly ranchers is he attractive, I mean wow he is straight out of a magazine hot._

And then I saw him go up to his idiot friends and think _what a shame, that attractive being is simply a potato-salad-for-brains waste of oxygen._

But there was something about him, something I couldn't put my finger on that I could only assume to be the _mysterious _element that girls find oh-so-lovely about their male specimens.

And it only got fucking better from there.

He was _smart._

Like actually 'woah you have the potential to win a Nobel Prize' smart.

Un-fucking-fortunately he hid that amazing talent from his dumb fuck friends.

And you might ask _why Juvia, where did you happen to get this particular bit of info? _And I would respond with, _buckle up motherfucker, because I have a story to learn you._

Freshman year, English. My teacher found out that I was the one who was mumbling all those delicious curse words under their breath during tests, and for punishment I had to sort and help grade end of the semester essays.

He was one fucking lazy ass teacher.

But anyways, in that treacherously boring time I was forced to serve, I happened to stumble across the essay on ice formations in the North Pole by none other than Gray Fullbuster.

Now I am a snake of a woman, so I read his little essay in hope for some entertainment from whatever unintelligent shit he happened to pull out of his ass.

But I was _wrong._

Dead wrong, in fact.

His essay was so brilliant I remember rethinking my life decisions for forty-five minutes after words, and now I have this habit of using biodegradable items and recycling whenever possible.

So because of some hippy-ass essay that by simple chance I had snagged, I had developed a teensy infatuation with that raven-haired bastard.

And contrary to popular belief that crushes last for a month at the most, let myself be a shining example that crushes only grow to be much too fucking heavy to hold up and now I am pretty much drowning in admiration.

Fucking pathetic.

Everything that he does, from his adorable laugh to his sexy smirk makes me want to throw myself out of a fucking window and sob until I drown in my own tears.

So here I am, sitting in Government class and listening to the teacher (ha, not really) and waiting uber impatiently for me to get the hell out of high school and my ass into college, because the second I stop seeing Gray is the second the weight of this crush is yanked off of my shoulders and tossed into oblivion.

Only three more months.

My thoughts are thrown off track when Erza's snort of laughter snags my attention, just in time to see Natsu face-down on the floor.

I laugh as well, seeing Natsu in pain brings me much joy.

Just kidding. I'm not that bitchy, jeez.

But I am laughing, because his idiocy is a source of entertainment and who am I to turn that shit down?

"Mr. Dragneel, may I ask as to why you are upside-down?" Mr. Taylor inquires, less entertained than the rest of us.

Natsu pushes himself off of the ground with a squeak of protest from his desk as his weight returned.

"Yes you may, and that information is classified." He said in that smart-ass voice that makes my want to smack him with a baseball bat.

"Alright, and as teacher of this class, I advise you not to disrupt the class again, or I might be forced to reveal your test results to the entire class."

Instantly his face goes red and he shuts up. There is a collective "ooh, burn!" and Mr. Taylor returns to his pointless lecturing.

The only thing keeping me awake during the remainder of class are the two fingers propped on my left temple, and the hurried buzz of whispers from behind me.

When I finally escape (albeit hurriedly) Erza barely catches up to me.

"Ugh, was it just me, or was that particularly unbearable?"

Out of everyone in my group of friends, Erza is probably the most like me. Which always leaves me asking _how the hell did she ever get a boyfriend?_

But, I always wave those thoughts away because I like Jellal a lot, partial to the fact he dislikes idiots almost as much as Erza and I do.

Which leaves Levy, Lucy, and Lisanna. The three L's. They all find idiocy 'adorable', but, much like Erza and I, keep to ourselves.

Which I guess is why we all click.

"It wasn't just you, I think Natsu was trying _extra _hard to be a dumbass today." I answered flatly, turning a sharp corner into a flood of people with a laughing Erza by my side.

"I would pity Mr. Taylor, if he wasn't such a hard-ass prick." Erza said with a distasteful wrinkle of her nose.

"He needs to pull whatever the hell it was that died out of his ass," I hadn't even notice Jellal sidle up next to us in the commotion of the hallway.

"Knowing him, it was probably a ferret." I said with a wry smirk, remembering the distant rumor of his affairs with Mrs. Connelly's ferret, Webster.

"I almost forgot about that." Erza said accusingly, I didn't blame her, nobody wants to envision that.

"Almost," Jellal chastised. Erza smiled affectionately, it was rare to get one of those out of her, but if anyone could pull it off, it would be Jellal.

In fact, it was pretty rare to get anything out of her if you weren't her friend. Erza was scary as all fuck, and had mastered the bitch face, while I was still intermediate.

"Well, I gotta get to Calc. See you guys in English?" Jellal asked rhetorically, waving us with one hand as he disappeared back into the crowd from which he came.

"Bye," Erza said tardily, long after Jellal had left. I gave her a knowing smile and a thin blush painted her cheeks as she parted so that she could get to her Latin class.

I had Physics next. Tch, talk about a load of useless shit I never want to have to use again.

But…the class was interesting enough, I sat in the back corner of the room and had an almost _perfect _view of Gray's face where he sat opposite to me.

He had this awful habit of running his hands through his hair.

I walked into the class, a lot more positive than an hour before, and saw Levy frantically waving me towards her and Lucy, who must've had something important to tell me.

Knowing them, I probably didn't give even two shits about whatever tidbit of gossip they had managed to pick up, but I loved them so I would fake it.

"Oh my goodness, you'll never guess what Lu-Lu heard Juju-bee!" Levy exclaimed, her bright blue hair shaking from all the bouncing that she was doing in her chair. I can't say I'm all too fond of her nickname for me, but I was extremely fond of Levy herself (honestly, who wasn't?) so I let it slide.

"What is it Lev? Did little Timmy fall down the well?" I teased. Her playful glare made me smile as I took my seat, and allowed myself a fleeting glance at Gray.

Ugh, he should _not _be allowed to wear black. He looked positively _criminal._

"Actually, no. I heard that Mira and Laxus finally hooked up!" Lucy said, slamming her hands on her desk like this bit of gossip was god's word.

My eyebrows immediately raised in surprise. Laxus was so many leagues below Mira, it was almost laughable. But then again, Mira is out of _everyone's _league.

"Wow, that's…that's interesting." I said, my interest barely peaking, but my weak lie was enough to fool both Lucy and Levy.

Levy and Lucy are easily the closest out of all of us, they've been friends for what seems like an eternity. Lucy is tall, and _gorgeous. _She has flowy blonde hair and warm brown eyes, and sassy attitude to boot. Levy is short, and _fucking adorable._ Nobody can out-cute Levy, with her floofy blue hair and loving brown eyes she could charm a serial killer.

Lisanna is barely on time, her seat is next to Lucy and she smoothed her silvery hair down so that it wasn't wild and free like Levy's.

"I forgot my notebook, _again_." Lisanna said with a sigh of relief. Honestly, Lisanna is so forgetful I frequently wonder how she hasn't come to school naked yet.

"Again? Damn Lis, you need to just walk around with everything." Lucy suggested.

"I don't understand why you don't just wear your backpack." I said flatly. Lisanna gave me the 'I've told you this before' look and shook her head.

"Mira says it'll ruin my outfit!" She wailed in anguish, plopping her stuff on her desk and resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

They started talking about the Mira and Laxus rumor, and I found myself losing interest extremely quickly.

And my mind instantly wandered back to Gray. Accompanied soon by my eyes.

His hair looked _so _soft. I swear, I would pay good money just to run my fingers through it. And the way his muscles twitched when he tapped his pen against his paper was _extremely distracting._

Man, class has only been going for twelve seconds and already I'm out of breath.

Mr. Baker, a short and timid man, scurried into the classroom only to announce that he'd be back in a few minutes, leaving the class to blab as loud as it pleased.

As for me, I continued stealing glances at Gray, completely unbeknownst to him.

At least, I hope.

"Juv! What are you thinking so hard about?" Lisanna asked.

"Just what would have Mr. Baker in such a hurry is all," I covered expertly, years of lying under pressure coming to support me.

"Hm. Maybe his cat died." Lucy said blankly. Looks like her mind was elsewhere too.

"Uh oh, I know who you're thinking about," Levy sang tauntingly. This was new, usually Lucy having a new crush was always the topic at hand.

"Ohmygosh, who, who?!" Lisanna asked excitedly, leaning forward in her desk as Lucy blushed.

"It's nothing." She mumbled, but from that tone I knew that it definitely was not nothing.

"It's Natsu~" Levy whispered, and I felt my mind go numb.

Lucy liked _Natsu? _That dumb as a bag of rocks pink haired punk?

"No it isn't!" Lucy hissed, but Levy and Lisanna were already squealing. I wanted to grab Lucy and smack her extremely hard. What is wrong with her? _Natsu?_ She could do a million times better!

But then again, a million times zero is zero.

I sighed in both confusion, and anguish. I knew that if Levy said it, then it must be true.

God this sucks. Do you know what I'm going to have to endure now? Hours upon hours of 'oh my god~ Natsu looked soooo cute today!'

But then again, maybe Erza would be able to knock some sense into her…

Mr. Baker came bustling into the room, piles of paper in his scrawny arms as he nearly toppled over trying to set them on his desk. A chorus of giggles took the room by storm when he screamed at an extremely high pitch as he dropped what must've been an important paper.

As Mr. Baker introduced the lesson for the day, I found myself almost slipping into a Gray-induced coma. It's like he's _trying _to kill me, I mean, come on dude, stop running your fingers through your silky hair it's making my chest hurt.

I groaned softly as I heard the words 'open your textbook'. Open your textbook was the ultimate death sentence. You would know too, if you had to hear Mr. Baker's voice. It was sort of high pitched, and it sort of made your ears want to commit suicide.

"And so, if we put the Doppler Effect…well, _into effect,_" Mr. Baker laughed at his own wannabe joke. His laugh is the grossest thing I have ever heard, sort of like a wheezing kitten that is dying of lung cancer.

It seemed that Gray was just as disgusted by his laugh, because he sort of recoiled, like he had been slapped by the sound of his laugh.

And _that _my dear fuckers, is when it happened.

Gray Fullbuster, for the first time in his fucking attractive life, turned around.

_Fuck._

Thanks to my quick reflexes, I managed to flick my gaze back to Mr. Baker just in time so that Gray didn't see me drooling over him.

But _fuck_. He's looking at me. I can feel his gaze, it's burning a searing hot hole in my head.

What the hell do I do? I've been on the opposing side of this situation more than humanly possible, but, I mean, _fuck. _He's totally staring at me. Do I look back? Do I wave? Do I flip him off?

Oh god. I just want to throw myself out the window. I'm going to scream. Or maybe cry.

Suddenly one billion and a half metric fucktons were lifted off of my back as his eyes slowly drifted away from me and back to Mr. Baker.

Holy fucking skittles was that intense. Well, maybe just for me. He probably wasn't even looking at me.

_Shit._

_Oh hell._

He must've been looking at Lucy.

Of course he was looking at Lucy, she's beautiful, oh god, I'm safe.

And maybe that wasn't such a good thing.

The remaining time in class was pretty much me weighing my chances of survival if I were to run away, just fucking _away _from Magnolia, away from Gray, away from my friends and to just be alone for the rest of my life.

There was no doubt that I would starve to death, but at this point, anything was better than whatever the hell _this_ is.

I walked out of class mechanically, my mind whirring with possibilities. I'm pretty sure Lucy tried to say something to me but I think I walked right past her, I don't know I feel so numb right now somebody could stab me and I'd walk to third period with a knife in my gut.

I have Calc. with Erza next, thank god. Some Erza time ought to do me some good, we can make fun of Elfman and Cobra.

I just need to relax, just think of relaxing things, kittens, streams, red velvet cupcakes…

I let a long breath out, my mind soothed and my body much less rigid. I walked to my locker to get my Calc. things, while waving goodbye to Levy as she walked past me to her French class.

"Hey, you're Juvia, right?"

I turned around to see who was addressing me, and I almost melted into a puddle.

That's fucking right.

Ha, I just realized that I totally forgot to mention the fact that I've never said a fucking word to him in my life.

I instantly felt my walls go up, there was no reason he should be talking to me. I didn't do anything different.

He smells so fucking good. I have no idea what the scent is, but good god I just want to bury my face in his chest and inhale for hours on end.

"What's it to you?" I snapped, thanking every god that I had long hair that covered my very red ears.

Gray tilted his head in the slightest, his eyes evaluating every move I made.

"Well?" I asked, embarrassed that he would even look at me this long.

_This wasn't part of the fucking plan I was supposed to go to college and forget about him oh god I hope he says something before I explode…_

"Hm, have we…met…before?" He asked. If anybody else had said that, it would've been awkward, but with Gray, it seemed completely natural.

Fuck him.

I scowled. "No, now beat it."

He looked completely surprised by my harsh manner, and to be honest that would make two of us. I have no clue why I was being so bitchy to him, my only explanation was that I didn't want to fall in love with him any harder than I already have.

"Would you quit staring at me like a creep?" I asked rudely. Now I knew for sure that I was blushing, my cheeks were heated and I just wanted to rip my face off so that he couldn't see my blush.

_And while your at it, could you possibly be a little bit less fucking attractive? Some of us are trying to breathe here._

"Wow, have you always been at this school?" He asked, as if he were bewildered by the fact that we had never crossed paths.

"Yeah, thanks for noticing." I said sarcastically, my locker now open as I gathered my Calc. stuff.

"Seriously? I can't believe I've never noticed you…" He trailed off as he seemed to be staring at my hair intensely.

"Yeah, bye." I said in a clipped tone, twirling around and sauntering away.

_Haha, great. Now he'll never fucking talk to you again. Brilliant._

I'm probably the only girl to ever exist and actually _not _want to get to know her crush. I wanted nothing to do with my crush, I hope I never have to see him again.

God I'm a freak.

_…__He's a thousand times more attractive up close._

I dropped my stuff on my desk violently and buried my face in my arms. Life sucks, Gray Fullbuster is an asshole.

I should make bumper stickers.

Erza bumped my shoulder testily, obviously sensing my sour mood.

"You alive Juvs?" She asked, placing her things down and sitting in her spot.

"Just barely," I breathed out, resting my cheek in my hand. Erza knew not to pry any farther, so we spent the rest of class in comfortable silence, taking valuable notes that I would never need to use again in life and listening to a teacher who had probably lost all hope in humanity.

When the class did end, I dragged the six pounds of homework that we had been graced with behind my back. Erza looked about ready to knock some heads (Namely Elfman and Cobra, who asked nonstop stupid questions the entire class, like 'why did humans invent math?'.

Normally I would've cheered her on, but right now I just needed to get to my next fucking class, avoid the fuck out of Gray, then go the fuck home.

The only problem in my otherwise perfect avoid Gray plan was that he was in my next class, which was an extra health course I took. I wanted to be a nurse when I grew up, and I already had a college scoped out and everything, this was just another notch on my belt.

In the health course, I just hung out with a sophomore named Wendy who wanted to be a doctor, and I had faith that she would be a doctor. That little chick could list off every artery from the heart to the fucking ankle.

She was a cute kid, and I enjoyed her company well enough, except for the fact that she was really timid and nervous, she was almost afraid to hang out with upperclassmen.

The _millisecond _I stepped into that godforsaken lecture hall, I felt Gray's eyes latch onto me. Sucking in a breath like I was going for a swim and not expecting to come back up, I raced up to take my seat next to little Wendy.

Wendy greeted me politely. I almost hated hanging out with her, I was kind of afraid that I was poisoning her, with my awful swearing habit and my deep hate for pretty much everyone…

Fuck it.

"Hey Wendy," I returned her greeting, a little more casually as I slammed my stuff onto the fold out desk rather boisterously.

Wendy jumped a bit from the sound, and I plopped down in my chair, prepping myself for an hour of info that I would actually pay attention to.

The lecture started off with the basic heart functions, and learning about bypasses and heart attacks and preventions. Basic stuff, but about halfway through the lecture I almost thought I heard someone whispering my name.

I whipped my head back, eyes narrowed as I searched for the culprit.

Of-fucking-course, Gray is looking at me with a puzzled expression, mouthing the words _'you're in this class?'._

I squinted my eyes and gave him one of those '_wtf stop talking to me_' glares that I was so (not)famous for.

He didn't seem fazed but I turned back around so that I could face the lecturer again, determined not to let Gray distract me again.

I almost succeeded, in fact there was only six minutes left of class when the lecture ended, but Gray was on a roll for pissing me off today, and right now was no exception.

"Juvia, you're in this class?" He asked, he had walked up to me and Wendy right as we were packing up.

"Uh, no. I came here for the comfy chairs." I said, smacking one of the comfy-as-rocks plastic chairs and fake smiled.

He smirked his stupid sexy smirk. "You're sassy." He commented with a raised eyebrow.

"And Wendy's got blue hair. Any more excellent observations?" I said, gesturing to a nervous Wendy's dark blue locks.

He actually laughed this time, a nice handsome laugh. I'd most definitely be lying if I said I disliked his laugh, in fact I'd be lying if I said I disliked _anything _about Gray.

Except for maybe the fact that he wouldn't leave me alone.

The bell rung and I was about to run away, but Gray caught my arm and I felt shivers crawl up my spine.

"Catch you later Juvia," were his only words before he released me.

Yeah, only three months, my fucking ass.

It was going to be a hell of a lot longer than that, and as far as I can see, I'm completely, and utterly, screwed.

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><p><strong>Basically, I made an FF net for all my tumblr creations. Read at your own risk.<strong>


	2. Detention for Dummies

"Juviaaaaa~"

I looked behind me and saw Levy zooming towards me with a thick notebook in her small hands. I braced myself for impact seconds before her itty-bitty body smacked into mine.

"Oh Ju-Ju, you'll never guess what happened to Lucy!" She squealed, skipping a few feet in front of me.

"Oh yeah? What happened?" I asked, my thoughts not wavering from the Gray-dilemma.

"She talked to Natsu! Oh my gosh, it was _so _cute!" Levy fangirled shamelessly, almost dropping her notebook in the process.

"Great." I said with less enthusiasm than I had intended. Levy didn't seem to mind, she continued without further ado and was pretty much dancing her way into Spanish.

I fucking hate Spanish. Like, not only is this fucking language difficult, with its fucking accent marks and weird I dots, but it also has to make things fucking masculine and feminine.

What's with all the labels bro? If you ask me, Spanish is one sexist language.

Levy thinks it's 'exquisite' and 'a very fine language' and all that other language arts bullshit, but she's pulling linguistics out of her ass anyways so I let it slide that she thinks so highly of a language that is unnecessarily difficult.

It's honestly not fair that Levy can be so good at something so trivial. Well, she insists that it is nowhere close to trivial, but I think we all know that any language that isn't your own probably sucks and should be burned at the stake. This shit comes as naturally to Levy as breathing is to most people. I say most people because I myself am one of the few poor idiots who often forget to remember to breathe and sort of sit there half choking, half gasping like a fish out of water.

Just…fuck.

I also hate Spanish because our teacher is one giant-ass motherfucking bitch-faced hard-nosed _cuntfuck. _And I mean every one of those_._ Mrs. Missvych (pronounced miss vich, but I think we all know what _I _call her behind her back…) is a very Mexican-looking fat lady who claims that she is from Colorado…but she's not fooling anyone.

It's like her main goal in her assumably short life is to get me to make an absolute ass out of myself, from making me read with my not-so-Spanish accent, to calling me out in class when I _clearly _haven't the slightest fuck of a clue what the answer is.

Well I hope she dies of type two diabetes.

Levy, of course, with her dumb glass half full, says that she is a very agreeable woman, and that I shouldn't take my frustrations about a language out on her. And maybe if I wasn't busy wishing all of Satan's hellfire to consume her slowly I would listen to her.

Just maybe.

"Buenos dias clase, sientense, sientense."

_"__Good day class, sit down, sit down."_

I reluctantly followed Miss Bitch's orders, taking a seat in my crappy spot.

I'm squished in between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, a boy and a girl who couldn't tell the difference between a bed and a chair. The girl always had her hair in a high ponytail that was so tight it made her look kind of Asian. The boy had long greasy brown hair that covered his eyes like a sheepdog and always smelt like Mac n' Cheese.

Motherfuck me to hell's gate.

"Juvia, que hora es?"

_"__Juvia, what time is it?"_

This is what she does. This stupid little basic question game just to fuck you up before class. And I hate how she pronounces my name, it sounds like _hoo-via_ like how fucking ugly does that sound. That should be the name of a cow. Or a brand of meat.

"Eh…es…uno y…"

_"__It is one…"_

She motioned for me to continue. Damn, what was the word for thirty again? Can you believe that Spanish makes you do math just for the time?

"Media…?"

_"__Thirty…?"_

Mrs. Missvych looked extremely disappointed that I had gotten it right. Ha-ha, fuck you old lady.

"Muy bueno Juvia," she said thinly, turning to the whiteboard and writing down the pages to be read for today.

_"__Very good Juvia"_

"Gracias." I said sarcastically. That's right; I'm sarcastic in two languages.

Class, quite literally, drags on, and when I say drag I mean like dragging seven hundred pounds of granite across the fucking Sahara Desert.

At least I had English next.

This may sound like a total lie, but I actually _like _my English teacher this year. Mr. Hammond.

Haha, yeah I know, fucking witchcraft, but…

He's an interesting teacher, who knows how to get the point across. And that's all I really need.

I have Jellal, Erza, and Lisanna in that class, so this should be fun.

"Juvia? Vete aqui, por favor."

_"__Juvia? Come here please."_

Dammit, dammit, **dammit**! I almost forgot I was actually technically still in class.

"Eh…un momento."

_"__Eh…one moment."_

Silently preparing myself for battle, I stood up from my seat. Feeling everyone's eyes on the back of your head is hell, it's like everyone is silently singing Amazing Grace at my own funeral, all with their passing gazes.

"Miss Juvia, I would very much like you to see me after class." She seethed; just quiet enough so that the strained ears of my classmates would fail to understand.

_I…wait…holy fuck, she just used English! Now, I'm fucked, I'm fucked to hell and back!_

"Um…alright." I said, my mind whirring a mile a minute.

_Why the hell is she mad at me this time!? I got a B- on the last exam, that's definitely not a fail!_

She glared at me as I walked back to my awful seat, I couldn't see her, but I could just _tell._

Fuck you Miss bitch. Fuck you.

The bell rings and I barely register it, but I do register the golden retriever looking kid practically shattering my shoulder as he propels himself towards the exit.

Not that I blame him, under normal circumstances, I would've done the same thing.

I slid my Spanish stuff into my blue gray back pack with speed that rivaled dripping syrup. I don't think I've ever been this un-excited.

"Juvia," her voice rings out loud and clear, jingling throughout the empty classroom.

"Hm?" I answered unintelligently. Considering she already thought I was a dumbass I might as well play the part.

"A few weeks ago, I received a _very _insulting e-mail from Mr. Hammond."

Huh.

Did I do that?

Eh, probably.

"Now knowing that Mr. Hammond is an _adult _and he would never pull something as simple and childish as this, even given our…history…"

Ha, he hates her almost as much as I do. English teachers, you gotta love 'em.

"I knew it must've been one of his students." She slammed own the stack of assignments she had been organizing and stood up, making the whole room shake, if I may add.

"It wasn't difficult to find out _who _was in his class at the time, and it was even easier to make an educated guess on who might've sent this."

_Ah, fuck._

"Do you have…anything…to say for yourself, Miss Lockser?"

_Yeah. Go take a flying fuck and call me when you die, that way I can organize the funeral that no one will come to._

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She smirked, like she had been waiting her entire life for me to say those words.

"Well that's alright, because I know exactly what I'm talking about. And you know what? So does Sherry."

_Mother fuck me to fucking fuck town on a tractor, god dammit!_

That little skanky pink haired cock eater was such a little snitch! God, I could just rip her boobs off and give them to the basketball team for fucking charity!

"O-oh really?" I said, my voice cracking a teensy bit as I ran my hands along the top of my bag.

"Yes really. And if you'd be so kind to show up for detention today, I'd be positively flattered."

_The only way you could be flattered is if you got run over by a truck. Ha! Get it? Flat? I'm funny most of the time…trust me._

"Well I'd love to do that!" I said with as much sarcasm as I could possibly bottle up into one sentence.

"Mm. Good, see you then." She said with a wave of her chubby hand.

_I can't fucking wait._

It took me exactly twelve seconds to book it down the hall from Spanish, and all the way to English without stopping to grab my stuff.

Mr. Hammond doesn't even look up from his book, but he greets me, knowing very well that the only one who would run into class would be me, running from Spanish like it was a wildfire.

"You're late." He observes without his sense of sight.

"Yeah. _Somebody _decided to kiss Miss bitch's ass." I said with a pointed glare at Sherry. She looked around, like she was completely innocent but I'd kick her ass later.

"Oh yeah. The email." He says slowly, taking chaste sip out of his coffee mug.

"Yup." I confirmed, gliding over to my table which seated Erza, Jellal, me, and Lisanna, who was actually in her spot because for once in my life, I was more late than her.

How sad.

"Hah, she was so pissed. Thought she might pop, like a balloon," he said, happily envisioning her demise while shutting his book with a clack.

"Today, I don't really care. Do whatever you want, the assignments due tomorrow so waste your time as you please."

See, _this _is why I love Mr. Hammond. He leaves it up to you, it's _your _choice to do homework, _your _choice to study, and if you did well, you did well.

"I'm hungry." Erza moaned, right, I almost forgot I had lunch in a few minutes.

Mr. Hammond tossed us a box and Erza opened it, knowing quite well what was inside.

"Aw, only two?" Jellal asked, nudging the two donuts Mr. Hammond had snagged for us.

"Yeah, Miss bitch was on a roll today." He answered with a memorable chuckle.

I could feel the eyes of the whole class latched onto our table as they enviously watched us ration the donuts. Everyone in our class was pretty damn jealous that Mr. Hammond liked us best, but it was just because we were all pretty alike, and everyone else is significantly dumber than us.

I am the queen of modesty.

Lunch was uneventful for me. I never really talked during lunch, I just ate. Boring, but it's fun to watch Lucy attempt to gossip while eating a sandwich.

I couldn't believe it. The school day was finally _over._

Well, not technically. I have homeroom and study hall but I could leave if I wanted to.

But I never do.

Plus I have detention.

F_uck._

Now, do you remember when I told you that I had _one _secret that I harbored from all my friends?

Right. I lied.

You see, on day one of high school on day one of homeroom, I met possibly my best friend in the entire universe.

…Gajeel Redfox.

And if you are ever so unlucky to meet this man your very first thought would be _why_

_The __**fuck**_

_Would an annoying bitchy chick_

_Hang out_

_With the fucking incarnation of Ghost Rider_

And the answer is just and simple, I have no **fucking **clue.

The very first time I met Gajeel, I had gotten lost just trying to find my homeroom and I was so tired and sick of everybody's shit that I was not about to give up to some hunk of steel wearing a skin suit.

In fact, I had sassed him to the point of exasperation.

…Thus sparking the beginning of a beautiful, odd, dysfunctional, and fucking unexplainable friendship.

"Hey Jubes," He mumbles, stretching back in his desk that he had been sleeping in.

So Gajeel doesn't go to school.

Not really, anyways.

Gajeel's late mother was good friends with the principal of the school, and I suppose he felt o bad about her passing that he just sort of…let Gajeel slide by.

And if he were anybody else, I probably would've objected, but Gajeel is actually…smart.

Not exactly book smart, but he….understands. It's hard to explain, but if you met him, you'd know.

Please, pray you never have to meet him.

"Hey 'Jeel." I sniggered, our back and forth nick naming each a source of annoyance for both of us.

He rolled his eyes. "What have we got today?"

Basically, everyday I give him a run down of what I did the whole day. Sad, I know, that I have to vent to possibly the last person on earth who would care, but I think that he actually enjoys hearing me curse out every dumbass here and all the teachers I'd like to publicly shame.

"Uh…well…"

And so, for the remaining hour I told Gajeel everything that had happened today. And when I say everything, I mean _everything._

Ha, yeah, that's right. Even my little Gray run-in.

When I finally finished, my mouth dry from speaking so much, I laid my head down on my desk and stared.

"Huh. Can't believe what's-his-name finally spoke." He muttered, proving my point that he did indeed listen to me when I talked.

"I know. Can you kill him for me so I don't have to look at his perfect face anymore?" I asked weakly into the desk.

"You know I'd love to," he says with a good-natured knuckle crack.

"I just…I can't wait to get out of here." I said finally, wiping strands of ocean colored hair off of my cheeks.

"So I've heard." He added sarcastically.

There was only one minute left of school. One minute left meant that I would start a little tradition Gajeel and I had, a tradition that we had never once broken ever since that first dreary day of Freshmen year.

"Will you come to school tomorrow Gajeel?"

He looks up with an almost wishful look in his eyes. "We'll see Jubie. We'll see."

It's the same answer he's given me every day, the same answer I was expecting.

He had never once shown up.

The bell rung and I sighed, waving to Gajeel as he took off to the back lot, where he parked his motorcycle.

And now folks, it's time for my _least _favorite part of the day.

De-fucking-tention.

I've only been to detention a few times in my life, a few times for swearing, a couple times for bitching out idiots, and one time for actually punching someone in the face.

That's a story for another day.

The detention room is at the exact opposite corner from the exit, almost like they're waving the fact that _you can't escape _right in your fucking face.

Assholes.

The second I step in the room, I was instantly surprised by the amount of people that were actually there.

Natsu, (well, no one's really surprised about this one…) was sitting in the far left corner dangling a pencil in front of his eyes and attempting to make it wiggle.

Elfman and Evergreen were making out (viciously, if I may add…) a few seats in front of Natsu.

Cobra was flicking tiny paper balls at Elfman and Evergreen.

Sting and Rogue were playing paper football from opposing sides of the room.

Yukino (I think that's her name…?) was picking at her nails with a sharp sneer plastered across her Barbie doll face.

Laxus was sleeping.

Bixlow was doodling on his desk.

Great.

It was pretty obvious that the detention supervisor for today, who I was assuming was Miss bitch, was a no show.

It was pretty much a detention free-for-all.

"Hey guys, I bet I can make this pencil disappear!" Natsu exclaimed, standing on top of his desk and waving the pencil around.

"Natsu, shaddup." Elfman said, apparently deciding to take a small breather from Evergreen's throat.

I slunk to the back of the room that wasn't occupied by a loser, careful not to draw to much attention to myself.

_Be extra careful, they can smell fear~_

I mentally prepared myself to sleep for the next hour, god knows I need it.

But just before I could lay my weary head to rest (heheheh) the door to the detention room swung open and I almost choked to death on my own saliva.

"Hey, wow. Guess everyone's here today." Gray said with an unconscious flick of his dark hair. His eyes scanned the room to confirm his statement.

_Come on invisibility powers! I know you're there! Work, dammit!_

His bored expression almost instantaneously lit up as his eyes skirted across me.

_Please don't sit by me, I'm allergic to beauty._

He drew closer to me, like a moth to light, before stopping in front of me with a playful smirk.

"Well, well, well, looks like we got ourselves a newbie," he said, just soft enough so that no one else in the room heard his voice.

Thank god. It's not like I need anymore distractions.

Especially if the distractions are so beyond sexy you need to be far sighted to see how far it goes.

I only groaned under my breath. He laughed light heartedly and sat down beside me.

Just…_excellent_.

"What got you in here Juvia?" He asked, intrigued.

"I…sent an insulting e-mail to one of my teachers. Would've got away with it too, if it weren't for stupid Sherry…" I grumbled lowly, lifting my head off of my desk to look at him.

Definitely a bad choice.

_Alert! Alert, he is way too attractive to be sitting this close to me!_

"Really? I didn't peg you as the type of girl to do that…" He mused.

"I didn't peg you as the type of guy to hang out with idiots but…" I gestured around the room, heavily emphasizing Natsu who was sticking the point of his pencil dangerously close to his eye socket. "But here you are."

He laughed really loud this time, loud enough to draw some of his friends to look over and see what had Gray laughing his ass off.

"Yeah, they're pretty much fucktards, aren't they?" He said after his laughter had died down.

"That's an understatement. Yesterday, Natsu tried to convince everyone that there was no other language besides English. And anything that wasn't English was fake and made up." I disdained, attempting to keep my voice as low as possible.

"Yeah…well, underneath all that idiocy and arrogancy…he's an ok guy."

_I find that hard to believe._

I didn't answer him, I just kind of slowly sank back down to my desk with sleeping intentions.

"So…uh…you do sports?" He asked after a few minutes silence. It was weird, his voice was almost…panicky, like he didn't want me to stop talking to him.

It was kind of…cute…

"Hm…sorta." I answered, my voice bit muffled by the sleeve I was resting on.

"…What do you mean 'sort of'?"

_Ah…shit. I don't want to explain this to him…great job Juvia. You've fucked yourself over for the eighth time today._

"I swim…but I don't compete."

"Really? I mean, Evergreen's on the swim team, if you want to compete I could just ask her-"

"No!" I interceded, just loud enough to grab the attention of Natsu.

"I mean…that's nice, but I don't really want…to compete." I covered lamely, drumming my fingers on my desk.

"Oh….why not?" He asked, clearly trying not to be too rude with his invasive question.

_Don't tell him. Don't tell him. Don't fucking tell him or you will be embarrassed for the rest of your gaddamn life._

"Hey Gray! Who are you talking to?!" Natsu screamed from across the room.

_Well now I'm solidly fucked. Thanks a bunch Natsu, I wonder how it would feel if I stuck that pencil in your trachea, it'd feel great, wouldn't it?_

"Ah…Juvia, she's in my physics class." He answered coolly.

Evergreen momentarily stops giving Elfman a tonsillectomy and looks, no, _glares _over at me from a distance.

Fuck, I am so **fucked**.

"Hey, why's Evergreen giving you the death stare? Most people turn to stone after a look like that…" Gray asked quietly.

"We uh…we swim together." I said simply, looking away from Gray's beautiful face and towards the only window in the room, providing me with glorious view of the forest.

"With that kind of look, I'd say you've beat her a couple times, am I right?" Gray noted.

Damn him. Damn him and his spatial thinking.

"Um…only a few times." I lied weakly.

"Evergreen's the best swimmer there is, if you've beat her once, than you should at least be _on _the varsity team," he reasoned carefully.

"I'd rather not…" I said, stealing another glance at Evergreen who seemed to be glaring at me while simultaneously getting her throat cleaned.

"Are you…afraid of competing, or something?" Gray asked tenderly, genuinely interested in my answer.

_I hate you, you perfect, perfect man._

"I just…freeze up on competition days." I lied thinly. It was a pretty believable lie, lots of people can't handle the stress of competing.

Just not me.

"Oh. You should still try out though, aren't the varsity tryouts in a few days?"

_Yes. I never miss them._

"I think so."

"Great. Just go and see how you do, and if you make it, you make it."

_It's not that fucking simple sugar cakes._

"Ok." I mumbled, looking up at the clock diligently.

Holy shit. I have been talking to gray for nearly _forty five fucking minutes._

And there is only _fifteen minutes left._

Awesome.

"Do you like…hockey?" Gray asked nervously.

_Nervously? Why is he nervous? There is literally nothing to be nervous about!_

"Yeah. My dad watches it a lot." I said truthfully. My dad was a _major _hockey fan, and he knew exactly who gray was. In fact, he thought Gray was _awesome._

Right. Gray is a hockey star.

Does he seriously think I don't already know this about him? I mean, sure he doesn't exactly assume that every girl he meets is a semi-stalker, but it's not really that big of a secret, it's kind of school-known.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, my brother is _obsessed._ I play a little bit though."

_A little bit?_

_A little fucking bit, Gray?_

_Is this his idea of modesty? Because it is extremely adorable and I kind of just want to hide him in my purse and keep him forever._

Well if we're going to play the modesty game, I'm in.

"Really? That's pretty cool, I've never seen a school hockey game before, what position do you play?"

"Uh…centre forward…" He said, almost confused by the fact that I didn't recognize him as the school's star hockey player.

"Nice. Maybe I'll catch a game sometime." **(I know it's not hockey season. But I also don't give a fuck.)**

He smiled. "That'd be awesome."

_Am _I_…flirting with him? What the fuck Juvia! This isn't how it was supposed to go, you were supposed to admire his beauty from afar until college, then you can run away! It was a great plan, but you just had to go and fuck it up._

Thee door opened and interrupted my self-lamenting thoughts.

"Gray, hurry up, we have hockey in fifteen." The guy said impatiently, tapping his watch like it was his own funeral.

Gray looked extremely disappointed. "Yeah, yeah, gimme a fuckin' minute, ok?"

I wonder what made Gray so upset all of a sudden. He didn't really _seem _like the type to just belt out swear words willy nilly, _like me._

"Jesus, hurry up." The guy said, shaking his head like Gray was the most annoying thing to ever plague his life.

"Ah…I gotta go, there's a game this Friday…" He suggests awkwardly, hefting up his bag with surprising strength.

"Gray! Stop flirting and get your ass over here!" The guy yelled.

Gray instantly goes red. "Shaddup Lyon!"

"Come on, coach'll give us extra pacers if you don't pick it up!" Lyon yelled, dragging Gray from the back of his shirt and out the door.

"Bye Juvia!" He yelled just as the door slammed shut.

_Fuck. I am so fucked, I'm an idiot, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!_

"Hi!"

"Gah!" I jumped back in surprise when I saw Natsu hovering inches from my face.

"I think Gray likes you." He said flatly, sitting down backwards at the desk in front of me.

"I just met him _today!_" I fired back, because it actually was true.

How pathetic.

"So? You like him too." He said bluntly.

"What? No I don't, I don't even know him!" I argued. Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Tch. Lying is a sin. Tell you what, I'll help you _hook dat up_ if you do my Government homework." He said , examining his knuckles like this was actually a deal that should be considered.

"No. Go away." I said, mustering all the bitchiness I could.

"You're friends with Lucy, right?" He asked, ignoring my previous statement.

"Yes. Fuck off." I spat. If I could do anything in my power to keep him away from Lucy, I'd do it. Even if it got me tossed in jail.

"Yikes. Bitchy much? Is she single?" He fired each question faster than the one before.

"Stay _away _from Lucy, or I'll kick your ass all the way to Hargeon and back. Then I'll stick you on a train and have you mailed to Pakistan."

For a second he looked like he might be sick, but it faded just as fast as it had appeared.

"Why? I think she's cute." He said simply, with a somewhat dopey smile.

"Of course she's cute! That's why you need to stay _away. _You'll ruin her." I countered.

He looked a bit hurt. I felt a little bit…bad…even. I felt like I had just kicked a puppy with a wing tip.

"I don't want to _ruin _her…" He said softly, rubbing his fingers guiltily on the back of his chair.

"Good. Because if you leave her alone, you won't." I said, a little bit less harsh than before.

"…Okay." He said, defeated.

_Shit._

No actually, _shit. _I feel awful, God he looks so broken…I…f_uck._

"I…ok, look. If you clean up your act, and at least maintain a solid B grade, then maybe…I'll look into it for you."

_God, I'm a fucktard. Oh I'm so dumb!_

"Really!?" He asked, shooting up from his desk with enough pep to kill a girl scout.

"Uh…yes. But stay away from her until then, or I'll get Erza."

Natsu shuddered and nodded, just as the clock sang out, telling everyone in the room that we were free.

_Free at last!_

Time sped up as I ran out of the school.

_Only three more months._

_Only three more months until I'm out of this hellhole._

_Only three more months until I can forget about Gray Fullbuster._


	3. Evergreen chokes

God, I _hate _the smell of chlorine. It literally feels like the chem. lab living in your nostrils, it's disgusting.

No matter, I'd still shown up to swim tryouts. I had been on the swim team ever since freshmen year, but I never made the competitive team. And for good reason too, and not the sort of reason you probably have predicted.

_It's because you suck, Juvia!_

Actually, no. Not to brag, but I'm easily the fastest swimmer here. Years and years of dreading the pool and raw determination to conquer my paralyzing fear of water had drilled pure swimming instincts into my brain. I could move faster and more fluidly than our so called 'champion swimmer' could in her dreams.

_Evergreen._

Just thinking her name leaves an awful taste in my mouth, like after my dad cooked year old potatoes, claiming that the 'little green sprouts' made them taste better.

The dumbass dad of the year award goes to…

God, her big fat boobs are probably the reason she's so god damn slow. Too much damn weight.

Not that my boobs made it any easier for me, just…I knew how to keep them in my suit, not hanging out like two oversized bowling balls that never seemed to be fully clothed.

Sure, Evergreen was fast, but not…_really _fast. I probably sound like a total condescending bitch right now, but _god _she just thought she was hot stuff and it kinda made me want to set her on fire. Then she really would be hot stuff.

I stretched my lean arms over my head, taking my time in observing the coach. Each tryouts, the varsity team members would be selected by time on each of the four main strokes. The top seven swimmers were taken, and I had a habit of 'slipping up' on try out days and not even making it to twelfth.

_Oops._

A few years back, when I first started swimming, I met Evergreen. Although she's a dumb bitch, she's also a smart bitch. If you know what I mean.

She probably saw that I was most definitely better than her, and she sort of…talked to me about it, and long story short, I tend to sort of on purpose flunk tryouts every year.

Double oops.

Dipping my feet into the pool slowly, I made sure to send Evergreen a nasty glare while her back was turned. She has a very manly back. Especially with her swimsuit on.

I slipped into the water silently, just as unnoticeable as I was in class. I really don't think anybody even knows I'm on the swim team, besides cunty Evergreen, anyways.

Even though my fear of water is still very evident, the pool just wasn't…real water.

Real water is churning, blackened depths that grab a hold of your legs and drag you down to the depths, where it will watch you slowly suffocate to death, and laugh. Not this chlorine-infested drinking water.

Yes, I feel very strongly on the whole anti-water debate that sort of takes place in my brain.

But I take off anyways, cutting through the water easily and listening to it gurgle past me, and the thin strands of my ponytail sticking to my exposed cheekbones.

I hated swim caps. Just thought I should throw that out there as well.

It's pretty evident that I'm hella faster than Evergreen, she knows it, her friends know it, and especially the coach knows it. You should see him every year, right after tryouts.

_"__God dammit Juvia, what the hell was that garbage! A bloody outrage, you were like a fucking ballerina out there, taking your goddamn time. No, don't laugh at me! I should be stringing up what's left of you across the bloody auditorium, if that's what you call a butterfly!"_

He's literally like the Gordan Ramsey of high school swimming.

"Juvia! Get your ass out of the water!"

Just returning from my practice loop, I flew out of the water to see what the coach wanted. Probably prepping me for tryouts, with his '_don't bloody screw this up again Lockser'. _

"Yeh?" I said unintelligently, clumps of water still residing in my ears.

"Don't bloody screw this up again Lockser-"

Yup. Like I said, same old spiel.

"-and if you think for a goddamn bloody shit assed second that you slacking off is going to stop me from-"

Blah, blah, blah. Kicking my ass from here to the Thymes, yadda, yadda, yadda.

"Coach!"

And now it's time for, _gag me with a fucking laptop!_

"Coach, I shaved a whole second of my front! And also-"

"Can't you see I'm fuckin' busy Ever! We'll talk after tryouts!" He barked, making Evergreen huff in frustration and send me a withering glare and good lord I'm pretty sure she actually turned me to stone.

"-Got that missy?" He asked me, a pointed look on his sharpish face. Kinda reminded me of a vulture, in a way, I guess…

"Uh…yes coach." I clarified, saluting him and walking back to my lane.

Unfortunately, someone was waiting for me there.

"_Ahem. _Juvia, do you remember what we talked about?" Evergreen asked, tapping her foot on the slippery floor.

"Actually, we're not technically supposed to talk about fight club." I said, a warning in my mind that she totally wouldn't get my hilarious reference.

Aaand I was right. But her stupid face was enough to show that she didn't really get much of anything.

"Whatever. Just know that if you even _touch _the varsity squad, I will make it so you will never be able to show your face at school again."

_Wow, I'm so scared, Regina-fucking-George. What are you going to do, put my name in the burn book?_

"Gotcha." I said, pointing my fingers at her in recognition.

"Freak." She muttered before turning around to her boyfriend, and _surprise surprise _her entire little fucking posse.

Great. Just what I needed, to show off my non-existent sort of existent swimming skills to Gray, who was, by the way, still in his hockey clothes.

No boy can make sweatpants look good.

_Except him._

He looked at me. I looked away from him.

Wow, that is one nice banner. What a great banner. I am really enjoying looking at this nice, multi-colored banner, in fact, I might just-

I felt a small tap on the back of my shoulder, and I whirled around, successfully whipping pool water all over Gray's dark blue shirt from my ponytail.

"Euh…sorry." I apologized, grabbing my ponytail in shame. _You betrayed me!_

"S'ok. Hey, don't freeze up out there. I kind of want to see someone actually beat Evergreen." He said with a grin. And at that moment, I wanted to. I _really _wanted to.

But I couldn't.

"Eh…I'll try." I said, although I think even he could tell by my tone of voice that that was the opposite of the truth.

He frowned, and looked like he had something else to say, but the loudspeakers came on, telling us and bystanders that trials were about to start.

First up; front crawl. Easily my best stroke, could win in a heartbeat.

But…I wasn't going to.

The shot went off and I literally just swam through leisurely, like I was getting from pontoon to pontoon. I could hear coach tearing out his ears in frustration (because he had no hair) and slamming his clipboard against the wall, probably frightening all onlookers greatly.

"God, _dammit! _Lockser, your ass, is _mine _when this is over!" He screeched, drawing far too much attention than I would've hoped. But I do suppose last place was a bit dramatic, even for me.

His comment probably sounded like the pervert Olympics to anybody else, but to me, it simply meant _fuck you, you useless whore._

Next: backstroke. Easy. But, not so for me.

I picked it up a little bit, snagging 8th place out of ten girls, but still, you could fry an egg on my coach's head, if you were in the mood for some sunny-side up.

Breaststroke: my worst stroke. _You can probably guess why._

But Evergreen was just plain _awful _at breaststroke, those boulders pretty much dragged her to the bottom of the pool!

I got seventh, much to my horror. Again, seven spots on the varsity team, I didn't want _any _chance of being considered for a position.

So for the butterfly, the final stroke for trials, I got dead last. Just ensuring me and my friend's social safety folks.

When I hopped out of the pool, coach was a bout ready to tear my boobs off and glue them to his hummer because we have not made it to a state tournament in the last four years and somehow he believes that I'm the key to his winning drought, or whatever.

"Lockser! That was complete bullshit! Do I look like a dumb fucking wanker to you?! I bloody hope not, because losing on god damn purpose is not what I call 'not screwing this up'. If you think for one moment, that I-"

Beep. Tuned out. My eyes subtly traipsed over Gray's form, bustled around Evergreen who had secured her top swimmer's spot.

He seemed completely unfazed by her winning, in fact, it looked like he was looking for-

"Are you even bloody listening?! I _said_, I'm not taking no for an answer. This is your last year here, and I fucking _need-"_

Boop. Sorry coach, don't care.

Gray, on the other hand…

"Putting you on varsity whether you like it or not."

**_WHAT?!_**

I looked up at him, completely and utterly horrified.

"What? No, you can't do that! I didn't make it!" I protested, but he had already started walking away.

"Don't bloody care, practice is next Tuesday. Be there if you want to continue breathing for the near future."

Ah, thinly veiled threats, my favorite things from teachers.

Asshole.

Completely pissed off, and frankly, screwed so hard not even a mega ton drill bit could get me unstuck, I stormed off towards the locker room with murderous intention.

"What the hell was that."

I turned around to face an angry looking Gray, and I matched his facial expression.

"What do you mean?" I sniffed, like the events corresponding were completely natural.

"I mean you sucked. It was blatantly obvious you were trying to lose." He deadpanned.

"I told you already, I don't like competition." I flatlined, squeezing excess water out of my ponytail in preparation to enter the locker room.

"Bullshit." He called. Damn him. Damn his sexy attractive intuitiveness.

I scowled and took a step forward, getting directly into his face.

"What do you want from me Gray."

He folded his arms, retaliating to my forwardness. "I want the truth."

"_I want the truth. _Tough shit batman, that's for me to know." I said, imitating his voice horribly and turning around and storming back to the locker room.

He made me _so _angry. First of all, it wasn't fair for someone to be that attractive. Heh heh, fuck you buddy. Second of all, I literally met him three days ago and already he's stuck his damn nose so far into my business he might just have to get it surgically removed, and _third of all…_

"Yeah. I can't believe coach put her on varsity, she _sucks. _She literally got last, is he trying to make this team a joke?"

Well, looks like I was wrong to be under the assumption that everybody knew that I was better than Evergreen.

"_I know! _He's just pissed we didn't make it to state last year, and he's taking it out on us! It's bullshit."

I so desperately wanted to prove those two shallow puddles wrong, I wanted to win, to make it to state…but it wasn't worth it. Three months left, just three months of high school, I don't need it to be anymore hellish than it already is.

I just didn't quite know how I was going to handle this yet…

"**_You!_**"

Well, as if today couldn't get any shittier…

"You! What did I tell you!? You bitch! I'll make you pay for this!"

"I didn't do it! It was coach, if you have a problem, take it up with him!" Shit. The words flew out before I could swallow them up.

"Shut up! You're gonna regret this, so much. I'll screw up your social life so bad-"

"What social life?" God _damn it Juvia _just stop fucking talking for the love of god, please just stop talking!

"You just dissed yourself, and I hope you're prepared to suffer." She snapped. God, she is so fake. I don't even understand how this is happening.

"Ok." I mumbled. Honestly, these three months couldn't stretch on any longer.

I put on my after swimming clothes, or as my mom calls them, my 'hobo' clothes. Hey, if you were sopping wet and didn't feel like trying, you'd look pretty homeless too.

It consisted of light gray sweatpants with the words _Holy Angels _written up my right leg. The name of my college, in case you're wondering. I won't accept going to any other colleges, and I'm hoping to go to the nursing school on their campus. The partner piece to my outfit was an old red T-shirt with the word lifeguard on it.

Yup. I all I needed was an old tin can and I was fit to sit in front of 7-11 and do my thing.

I grabbed my drawstring swim bag and headed outside, texting my dad to come pick me up. He thought I sucked at swimming. Although he'd never said it, I knew he thought so.

If only he knew.

So my basic after swimming schedule was waiting an hour and a half for my dad to come because the 'game was on' or he was 'robbed by some teenagers'. I loved my dad, but he sure was a flake.

So typically I would pass the time by sitting on the curb and watching netflix off my laptop, but I didn't bring my lifeblood today so I got to sit on the curb and do my absolute favorite thing- _doing absolutely nothing!_

I trudged over to the curb, my ponytail still dripping on the sidewalk, and sometimes trailing down the back of my neck in a creeping cold unpleasantness.

I flopped down onto the sidewalk, dipping my chin into my hands as I watched each girl hop into their cars while whispering most likely unpleasant things about me into their friend's ears.

Damn. Guess Evergreen's curse was starting early.

Soon enough, I was completely alone. Sitting on the curb, like a loser, my hair partially frozen and my ass numb.

"Heya."

You really should've seen this one coming.

Gray sat next to me slowly and looked at me with an indiscernible look on his face.

"Hi." I said softly, tracing the fabric on my shirt. There was still paint on it from a volunteer project Levy made me do two summers ago.

"So…this might seem like weird timing, but you know how I said that there was a hockey game on Friday?" Gray asked, scratching the back of his head, a nervous habit he had. (don't look at me like that, I know things, ok?).

"Yuh." I said tiredly, not really sure where he was going with this.

"Can you like…go? Like watch me play? I mean, it's only fair, I saw you compete, so…"

Ohmygod. I'm actually going to cry, he literally sounds so _nervous _he's the cutest thing ever ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod…

"Uh, yeah…sure. I suppose I should see at least one before graduation…" I reasoned, wanting to see his reaction to my nonchalance.

"Oh, ok. Cool, I mean. I'm number thirteen. If you wanted to watch me." He stumbled through his sentences awkwardly. I wonder if he was like this with all girls.

"Gray? The hell are you doin'?"

Gray turned around with quite possibly the most annoyed expression I've ever seen. And I've seen Erza during calculus.

"Who the hell asked you?" He shot back, before turning back around and leaning forward into his hands like me.

"Get yer ass up. We're goin' to the rink." The same guy from detention said, walking up to us and glaring down at Gray from above.

"What? Why? We don't have practice." Gray answered, his head shaking.

"Doesn't matter. You suck, ya gotta get better." The guy said stubbornly. Gray scowled.

"Shaddup Lyon. I don't care." Gray mumbled, leaning down and dipping his head between his knees.

"You should go." I whispered unconsciously. He looked up at me curiously, and almost accusatory, like he was expecting me to be on his side.

"Why?" He asked, like a small child busted for taking extra cookies.

"Because, I don't want to watch a hockey game with you stinking it up." I said simply, not able to contain my grin.

Apparently, it was contagious. "Ha-ha, funny girl. You jut wait and see, maybe I'm the star player." He said, jumping up from the sidewalk with gusto. Lyon rolled his eyes and punched Gray in the back.

"C'mon, if you spend all your time trying to get laid you shouldn't have picked hockey, the NBA's where that sort of shit happens." Lyon added, pulling Gray's arm towards the desolate parking lot.

"Hey, uh, I'll see you at school, you know…tomorrow." Gray called back, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"Who was that chick?" I heard Lyon ask when he thought he was out of my hearing range.

"She's my friend." My face instantly lit on fire.

Dammit Gray, just…dammit.


	4. Fuck you Gajeel

I swear, I was only a _little _bit late.

Like, earlier than Lisanna, but later than Levy.

As in, six minutes to get to class.

And I was still in bed.

"Fuck!" I wailed, climbing out of bed and grabbing a pair of stretchy leggings (that even I had to admit, showed a little bit more of my ass than I was comfortable with) and a Holy Angels sweatshirt, while simultaneously brushing my tangled blue locks out with a plastic pink hairbrush.

Yup. Talented.

I rushed through my kitchen, grabbing miscellaneous food items and tossing them in my backpack.

"Dad! Drive me to school!" I screeched, running into him and smacking him with my bag.

"Your what hurts?" He mumbled incoherently as I ran into the car without waiting to hear his answer.

_Three minutes._

"I thought you already left." He said groggily, the keys dangling shakily in his hand. Normally, I would've driven myself, but it's 'house protocol' that only dad can drive the van, and my mom took the car for work.

What's this? A completely functional family with no tragedies or mishaps on _fanfiction?_

Haha, that's correct. The only fault in my family's stars is my dad's flakiness and my mom's ditzyness.

"Wow. Thanks dad." I said dryly.

Oh shit.

Do you ever get that awful feeling that you totally forgot something?

I glanced at my backpack, chock full o' rice krispy treats and pop tarts, and all of my other random school supply garbage.

Everything appears to be in order…

"Dammit!"

My dad turned over to glare at me.

"Don't you fucking swear Juvia. It's morally wrong." He grumbled, surging forward as the traffic light flashed green.

Not recognizing the irony in his statement, I completely ignored him and swore up a small hurricane of curses.

All because, in this fan-fucking-fabulous greatastic day, I had forgotten my shoes.

"I'm the dumbest person alive! Holy shit, dad, just drive into that ditch! Bad genes, bad genes!" I cried, opening my window in an exaggerated attempt to throw myself out the car window for my failures as a human being.

"Spaz. Get out. I hate you." My dad grunted. I smiled weakly, after all, I had just forgotten something of sole importance to my day.

Haha. Whoa. Pun unintended.

"The feeling's mutual old man." Were my final words as I slammed the car door shut, something in which I was very well aware was one of my dad's personal pet peeves.

_One minute._

Shit! I'm so screwed…

Hallways flew by and everything just seemed hazy. What do I even have first hour?

God, dementia at seventeen. Talk about shit luck.

Ah, right. Government. Or political science, or whatever the fuck they like to call it. Doesn't matter, it's all still stupid.

_Ring!_

So close…yet so far.

But government class wasn't too far, in fact, it was a few classes down. Erza's gonna be pissed. At least she won't be able to yell at me from across the room.

Just before entering, I took a quick gaze at myself. Hm…not too bad, I suppose, given the circumstances.

Ready…set…go!

I opened the door as humbly as I could, my eyes fixed upon…what the fuck?!

_What the __**fuck**__!_

Unintentionally, my eyes boggled out of their sockets and my body continued to move forward, but my legs did not.

…Prompting the upper half of my body to completely lose its balance and three seconds later I became one with the floor.

Because what the damn hell!?

And what an entrance made by me. Not only was I late, which was weird for me, but I also drew so much attention to myself that I think many students were realizing that I was indeed in this class.

No matter. Falling on my face in the most ungraceful entrance since Jennifer Lawrence was no reason to give up this early in the day.

Especially when I had a certain _someone _to interrogate.

I got up and dusted off my skin tight leggings, subconsciously reminding myself to pull my sweatshirt down so it modestly covered my see through ass pants.

My spot was in the back left corner, inconspicuous because honestly the teacher had much more impudent things to worry about. Namely Natsu.

As he laughed obnoxiously at my faults, I mentally murdered him and scooched into my spot.

And of course, turned to the side to chew the hell out of the guy next to me.

"Gajeel, what the **_hell_**?"

(haha, bet you thought it was Gray)

He tilted his head forward in a weirdly old person like greeting. "Jubilee."

Ah yes, the creep-assed nickname he had graced me with on the day we met. Of course, my naturally 'jubilated' spirit (this included swearing at him and condemning his soul to the depths of hell) earned me my pet name that never seemed to loose its catchiness over the years.

"That doesn't answer my question!" I whispered angrily. I don't even really remember my question, but that didn't settle my raging nerves.

What the fuck is he doing here? I mean, I know he said 'we'll see' but that doesn't mean we'll see, that means no! We've established this already, he literally just broke almost four year's tradition!

"There…wasn't really a question. But to answer your future question, I don't really know. Got bored, decided it'd be fun if I crept into your personal life." He said slyly, tapping his ratty pen against his desk rhythmically.

Oh no.

_Oh no._

Gajeel knows…everything.

Gajeel knows every single fiber detail of my life, from the way Lucy talked all the way down to…

Gray…

_I'm so fucking screwed. Is that window open? I might as well just chuck myself right out of it, because pretty much anything is better than this right now-_

"You look sick." He commented flatly.

"I'm sick of _you_." I spat, not in the mood for his usual bullshit at seven in the morning.

"Walked right into that one. Why aren't you wearing shoes?" He asked. I felt myself moan at my lack of footwear and slam my head against the desk.

"-and for this project I _will _be assigning groups."

_Dammit! The ultimate death sentence!_

Seeing how my only friend in this class was Erza(and now Gajeel…I guess) I was bound to end up in a group that was scraped off the floors of hell.

"Tch. You were right, school sucks." Gajeel said, leaning back on his chair and almost snapping it in half.

"Yeah. You should just leave now, and y'know…never come back." I suggested.

"Hey, you were the one who was so eager to get me here! 'Sides I'm already here, may as well stick out the last couple a months." He reasoned intelligently.

He may have had a point. A _small _one, at most.

"What even is the group project? I forgot to care." I mumbled, watching slowly as all the smart people got placed into groups that I wasn't in.

"We're doin' a mock debate, on a current political topic." Gajeel said, mocking Mr. Taylor's monotone voice.

"Ew. I only like arguing on my own terms." I said. Erza got picked for her group. _Dammit._

"You don't have to tell me twice." Gajeel muttered. He had been one to see the dark side of my caffeine-less days.

"Redfox, Dragneel, Lates, Lockser."

_Wait, what?_

"You lucked out Jube. You got me as a debate partner." Gajeel said with a wide grin, showing of his sharp canines.

"No, no, no, no…this is a very bad thing…" I squeaked as Natsu and Hibiwibi or whatever his name was came bounding over to us.

"Hey Juvia! This is great! I'll bring my grade right up, I already have a C+ in physics and a B- in Calc.!" Natsu exclaimed. Right, my kind of, sort of, deal with Natsu.

"Yeah, brilliant." I said as coldly as possible. This asshole wasn't coming anywhere near Lucy if I had anything to say about it.

"What topic should we do, if I don't get an A on this project I _will _slaughter each and every one of you." Hibiraki (?) said. This prompted all of us to look at him strangely. I was almost positive that this weirdy kid had never gotten an A in his entire life, but I let it slide because last year I'm pretty sure I saw him have a full on conversation with his shadow.

"Well on that note, let's go through topics." Natsu said awkwardly.

"What about…foreign policy, or like…one of those conflicts in the watchamacallits" I suggested blankly. I just wanted this assignment to be over.

"Eh yeah, or something environmental, that hippy-dippy shit." Gajeel said in a bored tone.

"Mm…what about that whole 'drilling in the Arctic' thing. Little bit of both I guess." I added.

"That sounds good." Natsu said happily.

"Uh…so over the weekend just like…research that whole topic. What side are you guys going to argue?" Gajeel said. Well I guess I had no say in the fact that Gajeel was going to be my debate partner. I wasn't that disappointed, actually. I could count on Gajeel to argue, I might just be able to pull out a B.

"Let's do…the good side. Let's drill the hell out of what hunk of ice, Hibiki!" Natsu yelled. Hibiki (so that's his name…) looked absolutely horrified.

"What?! Good Lord no! Think of the environment! Oh for heaven's sake, this is unacceptable! I will not allow myself to have such an incompetent and imbecilic partner! I demand a switch!"

Gajeel and I both shared 'are you fucking kidding me' looks, and said "fuck no" at the exact same time.

"Hahaha…wait, what did he say?" Natsu asked cluelessly. Yikes, this is going to be a lot easier than I thought.

"I heard Gray asked you to the hockey game tonight."

Dammit! How the hell do people keep hearing about this stuff?

"Well…technically, yes, he asked me to come _watch _him." I corrected.

"So…are you gonna go?" Natsu interrogated. God, he's such a fangirl, I'm gonna mistake him for Lucy one day…

"Maybe." I said.

Yeah, I was definitely going.

"So you do like him?" Natsu asked.

"Where the hell'd ya get that idea?" I snapped, glaring at Gajeel subtly so that he'd keep his trap shut.

"Well you said maybe." Natsu said slowly, like he didn't exactly understand how he came to that conclusion either.

"Anybody who told you to be yourself couldn't have given you worse advice." I said sadly.

Natsu looked at me blankly and I couldn't help but pity him.

I took a glance at Erza from across the room, only to see that she had been trying to get my attention for a while now. She was viciously pointing to Gajeel and then making a shoulder shrugging motion.

_Ah, she wants to know how I know him…_

"Hey Juvia, you…you're not wearing any shoes." I heard Natsu say behind me.

"Well fuck me over sideways and dick toss that shit to hell's gate, you're right." I said as calmly as possible, looking down at my sock covered feet like it was just a small inconvenience in my day.

"Did…did you seriously not know that you're not wearing shoes?" Hibiki asked. God damn, these guys were as dumb as investing all your money into fucking Blockbuster.

"Shut up, you foolish fool." I said, dropping my sarcastic innuendo and walking over to Erza's group because god knows I need a dose of sanity in my life right now.

"What the hell is that?" Erza asked me the second I arrived.

"What the hell is what?" I retorted, unsure of her confusion.

"_That._" She reiterated, pointing to Gajeel, who was currently arguing with Natsu and what's his name.

"Ah. You mean Gajeel." I said, not really sure how to answer her question.

"Mhmm. How the hell does he know you?" Erza asked. I forgot how scary she could be sometimes…

"Uh, he's in my homeroom." I said, hoping with all my heart that she'd drop it.

"How come he just showed up here for no reason? Is he even _in _this class?" Erza continued, to my dismay.

"Yes, he's in this class, he just…decided to show up today?" I squeaked, sounding so unsure of myself I knew Erza could see directly through me.

"How does that even work? Shouldn't he be a Junior if he never showed up? Shouldn't-"

_Bring!_

"Whoops, sorry, gotta go! Bye Erza!" I said hurriedly, grabbing my bag and rushing out of the room with remarkable speed.

_Hahaha! Successful escape! Physics!…not yay…_

"HEY JUVIA!"

_HOLY SHIT MY NIGHTMARES ARE REAL_

Levy jumped on my back and Lucy grabbed onto my arm, making it extremely hard to stay upright.

"What the hell guys! Get off!" I shook Lucy off of my arm and peeled a giggling Levy off of my back.

"So guess what? Yesterday Natsu asked Lucy if she wanted to be partners in French! It was so exciting!" Levy gushed, twirling some of her sky blue hair into a tiny knot.

"You're exaggerating Lev, he was just trying to be nice…" Lucy countered, but I could tell by the faint blush painted on the apples of her cheeks that Levy was completely right about Lucy liking him.

_God fucking dammit._

"Oh, that's…" _Great, fine, good, interesting, fabulous, cool_-"…nice."

Levy and Lucy continuously giggled about whatever the hell they were giggling about until we got to the classroom.

I nearly had a stroke and a half when I saw Gray waiting for me at my desk.

Holy chocolate cupcakes does he look attractive.

I am most definitely having chest pains. Good Lord, why the hell is he wearing a hoodie? Why is it _tight? _Why does he have to wear jeans oh bloody hell…

"Ah, Juvia…looks like somebody's waiting for you…" Levy prodded, looking at Gray from a distance and whispering something in Lucy's ear, causing her to giggle.

_God._

"Gr_ay _what are you doing…here." I said, emphasizing 'here' as my desk.

"Gonna ask you if you were comin'," he said with a stunning grin. Why the hell can't I smile like that?

I unconsciously tugged my sweatshirt down, it seemed to have ridden up generously, exposing my stupid ass covered by my stupid leggings. Thank God Gray didn't see, or I might as well have just thrown myself out the goddamn window.

"Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure I can make it…" I said, dropping my bag next to my desk Gray jumped off of it.

"Cool. It's the last game of trials, if we win, we go to state." Gray said, trying to be modest but I could tell he was really excited.

"Mm. What time is it anyway?" I asked. I knew the game was at seven, but I just wanted an excuse to talk to Gray.

"Seven, but you should show up at six thirty. It's gonna be full." He lectured.

"What makes you so sure?" I asked with one raised eyebrow. I liked to think that Gray was modest, but maybe not so much.

"Because I'll be playing." He said smartly. I pretended to laugh, like it was the funniest thing I'd heard in years.

"_Hilarious. _But they don't let girls play on the boy's hockey team." I teased lamely.

"Awe, that was lame and you know it Juvia." He said, laughing good naturedly.

I had to admit, he was really growing on me.

But then again, so does cancer.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Levy and Lucy gossiping about my _scandalous _secret relationship with Gray. I swear, if one word comes out of either of their little mouths, I'm gonna-

"Please take your seats class, I have very important news!"

_Oh no. This is gonna be bad._

Gray looked excited, and went back to sit in his seat. How the hell is it even possible for someone to be excited for _physics_?

Wait a second, is that _Gajeel _sitting next to him? How the hell-

"We're going to be doing a group project!"

_God Dammit!_

What the hell? Is it _every _teacher's fucking goal to piss me off?

"We will be working on this project for several weeks and it is a large portion of your final grade."

_God damn you Mr. Baker I hope you and your disgusting fingernails-on-a-chalkboard voice go jump off a fucking bridge and get hit by a helicopter._

"_I will be assigning the groups._"

Well, there goes my last fucking chance of survival. I could've gotten a group with Levy but now I'm so screwed if I get a D I'll be excited.

He started to list off names and once again, every. Fucking. Smart. Person. Got. Taken. _Dammit._

Even fucking Gajeel lucked out and got Levy, asshole. I'd actually commit mass murder for his spot right now.

"Strauss, Drake, Fullbuster, Lockser."

Thank God. At least I _knew _Lisanna. She may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer, but at least I could tolerate her more than-

Wait a second, _what_?

Fullbuster!?

Ha, ha, ha…very funny _life. _I know you like screwing with me, but this is just bullshit.

"Juviaaaaa! Yay! We got in the same group! What do you think of the other members? Who do you think got the worst group? I'm so excited, what place should we do the experiment?" Lisanna fired question after question. I literally had no answer for any of them.

Gray walked over to my desk, where Lisanna had sort of gathered. Flashing me an irresistible smile, he pulled up a chair and sat down next to me.

Melting…_I'm melting…_

"Hey, who's the other member of the group?" Lisanna chirped. How many pixy stix did she even _have _this morning?

"Cobra." Gray said.

_Shit._

Cobra is kind of like that one asshole, that _one asshole _that I just can't fucking stand because he's such an _asshole _like you just look at him and he has an _asshole _smile, and an _asshole _face just…

Kill me.

At least he decided to ditch today, I don't think I could take a day full of stupid Cobra and stupid no shoes…

"So what's this experiment again?" I asked, realizing that my trend of not caring today was going off the charts.

"We're testing solar intensity of certain areas. So, where do you guys want to do the actual testing?" Gray asked. Right, almost forgot he actually had intelligence.

"What about my backyard? There's grass there!" Lisanna pointed out.

"Same, no way!" I said, accidentally letting my sarcastic mouth off of its leash.

Gray stifled a laugh and Lisanna looked genuinely surprised.

"D'ya know what's weird, I've known you for like three years, but I've never actually seen your backyard." Lisanna said in all seriousness.

Right. I have this weird phobia of inviting people over to my house. Can't really explain it, it just freaks me out that someone who doesn't live in my house would like…be there.

"Mm. Yeah. My house kinda sucks anyway." I covered lamely. Lisanna shrugged and went back to brainstorming.

"What about the hills? There'll be tons of sunlight there." Gray suggested.

The hills was a park that was a little less than a mile from the school, a popular camping getaway, absolutely beautiful with streams and hiking and waterfalls and shit. It was actually a pretty good idea.

"That's…actually a good idea." I voiced, sounding a lot more surprised than I had intended.

"Thanks for that stellar vote of confidence, Juvia." Gray said wryly, and I shot him a playful glare.

Dammit, his stupid flirting is contagious.

"Whoa, wait…do you guys, like…know each other?" Lisanna asked suspiciously, taking note of our obvious closeness to one another.

Gray said 'yes' at the same time I said 'no'.

"Ouch Juvia, I thought we were friends." Gray said with false hurt, clutching his heart like I had stabbed it.

"I'm totally missing something. What is this?" Lisanna asked, with 'this' gesturing to Gray and I acting like idiots.

"It's mutual friendship Miss Strauss." Gray lectured. Honestly, he was such a dork sometimes.

What a cutie.

"Huh? How long have you guys even been friends?" Lisanna interrogated, still completely baffled by our seemingly tight bond.

"Like a day." I said flatly.

"Like _three _days." Gray corrected.

"Three days?" Lisanna repeated in disbelief.

"Yup. So, the hills? This weekend?" I confirmed, glancing to see that there were only a few minutes remaining of class.

"Sure. _Anything _to get out of practice." Gray said with a grimace, probably remembering that asshole guy Lyon who made it his personal goal to interrupt any time that I spent with Gray.

"Cool. Tell Cobra too, you're friends with him, right?" Lisanna asked. Gray nodded and Lisanna went back to grab her things for the next class.

"How the hell can you be friends with that guy?" I heard myself ask, a bit rudely.

"Eh…it ain't too hard, if you look past his…dickish demeanor." He explained.

"Right," I said, standing up and dusting off my leggings before I grabbed my bag in preparation to get the hell out of physics.

"Hey, whoa. No shoes today? Is this normal, or something?" Gray asked, with an amused smile. Haha, glad I amused you oh great one.

"Fuck you, don't judge me. I am running on three hours of sleep and my pure hatred of the universe." I established, kicking my feet up and trailing towards the door in anticipation.

"Hey, don't get sassy. And if it means anything to you, it's too bad you didn't forget something different." He said suggestively, winking at me just as the bell rang.

_Holy mother of god._

As people brushed past me I looked down quickly to where Gray had been previously standing, only to see the most awful sight anybody could ever imagine on hell and earth.

My sweatshirt, which must've hitched up when I got out of my chair, had hiked up a little bit up to my lower back and to my utter horror my ass was practically hanging out and my underwear lines were bright and vibrant, like the happy little goddamn asshole _bitch cunt fuck faced _underwear lines that they were! Fuck me, fuck me twice into a different continent where it's illegal to swear god _dammit_!

_And if it means anything to you, it's too bad you didn't forget something different._

Was he referring to…my _fucking underwear…_

I wanted to scream. And cry. And murder six people. And eat an entire tray of chocolate chip cookies.

Who knew perfect Gray with perfect hair and a perfect personality and probably a perfect GPA had a pervy side and he took it out on me, probably the only girl in the entire world who would physically _die _just from looking into his eyes.

_K.O._

Ah…I don't think I can go on…

Erza was waiting for me expectantly in front of Calc., probably still worried about me from first hour.

Luckily, I doubted Gajeel was smart enough to make it into calculus, so I was most likely safe.

"Hey." She said, tilting her head to the side so that her long red hair fell off her shoulders gracefully.

_Dammit. _Why can't I have Erza's pretty hair?  
>"Hey. Did you do the homework, because I-"<p>

"Didn't. I'll do it tonight after gymnastics." Erza said. It was nice to have someone who was almost identical to yourself. Her insane dedication to gymnastic was probably the only thing that truly set us apart, my passion for swimming was strong, but it can't even be compared to Erza and her vault routine.

"Which will be, what…eleven o'clock?" I asked teasingly. She rolled her eyes and pushed open the door to Calc, seemingly sealing us into a time resistant environment where time literally passed by so slowly I could fly to Europe, compete on the Tour De France, lose, cry, spend six months in rehab trying to recover from severe depression, and then come back just in time to get the assignment.

_Great._

"Hey, so…that guy, in policy? You guys are like…good friends?" Erza asked confusedly.

Right, back to this.

"Eh…sorta." I mumbled as we took our seats.

Math is generally pretty easy for me, I mean, calculus is damn hard, but like, after a day or two, I get the hang of it pretty quickly.

That still doesn't stop the time from pulling its own weight for forty eight fucking minutes, good lord did that class kill me.

When the class finally finished up, I stumbled out like a blind drunk man.

Because math is like someone impaling you in the eye sockets with rusty nails.

I swiftly avoided Erza, for reasons unknown, I guess. I just really didn't want to explain my relationship to Gajeel to her.

Of course. My extra health course next, with Wendy, and Gray.

Hopefully he'd keep his distance; I really can't afford any more nosebleeds from his intense attractiveness.

It was like he actually radiated beauty; maybe someday he'll just spontaneously combust and kill everyone on earth in the process from his godly fucking looks.

I hate myself.

Ew…the lecture room smelt like formaldehyde…

Oh no…

_Please _no…

Ah shit.

Just as I had suspected, lined up across the front table of the extended room was a bunch of sealed up plastic baggies with gruesome looking bundles of flesh inside.

This day literally could not get any more fantastic.

"Hey Juvia," Wendy greeted timidly. She's really short. She barely came up to my shoulder. She seemed a lot taller in those scoliosis-bound chairs.

"_Please _tell me we're not-"

"Dissecting cats. I know, it's awful." Wendy said, her bottom lip just barely trembling.

"Wait, a _cat_? Isn't that like, illegal?" I asked, horrified because Lucy had a kitten named peanut and honestly at that time poor peanut laying on an examination table was all I could think about.

"They're donated from the humane society. If they don't get adopted, then…" She trailed off, implying that the cats' untimely demise had something to do with the fact that nobody could take care of them.

"That's so sad," I said, my voice cracking in both sadness and disgust, because the cats were all shaved and…deflated.

This is what I get for diving ass-first into the medical field.

"What do you think Juvia?" Gray asked from behind me, scaring me half to death because nobody in their right mind stands directly behind someone while they are clearly in the middle of a cat-dissecting life crisis.

"Jesus, Gray." I breathed out, scrunching up my sweatshirt in the area where my heart had been electrocuted.

"You look sick. You a cat person then?" He inferred, my face probably paler than the moon. (which really wasn't that big of an accomplishment, I was already white as shit.)

I tugged my sweatshirt down, not wanting an instant replay of 'Gray is secretly a peeper' and my brain hemorrhage just from the _thought _of that being true.

"Well, yeah. I mean, nobody wants to poke a dead cat." I said, swallowing down my stomach that had decided to take a left turn at the esophagus and just kind of get the hell outta dodge.

"That's arguable. But yeah, it ain't gonna be pleasant, that's for sure." Gray said, his nose wrinkled just barely, so that he looked like a kitten in the cold.

It literally took every ounce of my strength not to scream and pinch his adorable cheeks.

"Mhm. I want to be a nurse, not a veterinarian." I said. Oops, didn't mean to let that slip.

"You want to be a nurse?" He asked, genuinely surprised. I guess I just don't come off as the kind of person who would comfort dying people.

"Well, a pediatric nurse." I corrected. Dammit, _dammit, _stop telling him shit about yourself Juvia! You idiot!

"You? With kids?" He asked, even more shocked than before. Wow. Wait to conceal that disbelief buddy.

"Yeah. You got a problem?" I defended, a little bit sick of people judging me. Just because I was a bitch to everyone didn't mean I'd be bitchy to kids.

"No, no. Good for you." He said, his face still twisted into a sort of wonderfully odd incredulous mixture, I swear, it was impossible to read him.

"…What about you? Did you just take this course for college creds?" I asked. I was taking this class for both reasons, experience so that I could get into the Holy Angels nursing school I liked, and in smaller colleges like Holy Angels, they actually accepted extra classes like this one for credit.

"Uh…it's complicated." He said, stressing that this was not a topic he usually talked about.

"Complicated how?" I pried. Leave it to me to step my naked foot where it's not wanted.

His face contorted into a calculating face; he definitely wasn't sure if he wanted to tell me or not. I tried my best to look open about it; he tried his best not to judge me so it was only fair that I returned the favor.

"Well…my family really wants me to go to the U. It's great and all…but I really don't think it's for me." He said slowly.

I processed the information just as slowly as he fed it to me. I was lucky enough that my parents were thrilled with my choice, Holy Angels having great credentials and such. Of course, in comparison to MagnoliaUniversity it flickered, but that was also because the campus itself was three times as big. Not to mention its sports programs were stellar, its classes in general were top notch, and it just kept getting harder and harder to get into.

There was no doubt in my mind that Gray had been offered some form of a scholarship there, for his hockey leanings. But having a family who pressured you into doing what _they _thought was best for you had to be hell, especially if you were positive that it wasn't what you wanted to do with yourself.

"I'm…sorry. That's gotta be hard, but just make sure you stand for something." I said, somewhat philosophically.

"Stand for something?" He asked, unsure of my wording.

"Yeah. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." I said simply as the professor ordered us to take our seats. I split away from Gray expeditiously, not waiting for his reaction to my statement, but I could tell by the way he lingered there for a few seconds that it had stuck to his mind.

I had only been sitting while listening to directions for a few minutes when I felt it. You know, that ominous feeling that someone's watching you?

I flipped my hair back curtly, providing me a short, quick look behind me.

I guess what I'd said had made an impact on Gray, because he had been staring holes through my back.

And there was no way I could ignore the inconsistent beat of my heart at the thought that _maybe, _just _maybe _Gray liked me a teensy bit. A 0.00001% chance, but a chance, nonetheless.

Oh, what do I know? Maybe his compass points the other way, but until I found out, my life was most certainly going to be a billion times more hellish than I could've ever imagined.

It was a joke to think that I only had three months left. Gray Fullbuster was going to make those final three months seem more like a lifetime.

* * *

><p><strong>fun fact: this doc is called <span>heads or dead cats <span>in my doc manager**


	5. Tampons & Pepsi

God, fucking, _dammit._

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaad!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat do you want." He answered, poking his head out of the kitchen to answer my call.

"You said you were gonna drive me!" I complained, bouncing up and down like an annoying five year old.

I was completely ready for the hockey game, I had all my shit together.

My dad…not so much.

"What? When?" He asked, his eyes firmly glued to the hockey game on TV.

"Like an hour ago! Dad, come _on_!" I yanked his arm up as he drank his Pepsi absently, like I hadn't even said anything.

"Where are we going again?" He asked, slowly standing up and swiping the crumbs off of his shirt.

"The hockey game, dad." I reminded hotly, ready to slam him on the face with my purse and laugh as he suffered.

"You're going to a hockey game?" He asked, suddenly perky like I'd just injected him with caffeine.

"Yes, now let's goooo!" I whined, pulling his arm to the garage door.

"Since when do you like hockey?" He asked lamely, opening the car door as I threw myself inside, mentally fluffing my scarf and throwing my ten thousand pound purse on the car floor.

"Why do I have to drive you everywhere? You aren't crippled." My Dad mumbled, pulling the car out of the garage and onto the driveway.

"Be-cause, it's getting cold out and I hate driving on ice." I refuted, chipping the ugly nail polish off of my fingers. I had such horrible taste in everything.

"Lazy ass. So hockey, when did you become interested?" He mused, for once genuinely interested in shit I did.

"Uh, some friends are going and I got invited." I mentioned, definitely not wanting to make a left turn into Fullbuster Boulevard. I'm pretty sure my dad knew everything about him, like how Lucy knew Harry Styles's weight and height.

"What friends?" He asked, comically slapping his knee and laughing.

"Nobody likes you dad." I said dryly.

"Well obviously somebody did, or I wouldn't have a snarky wiseass brat like you." He said logically, running a yellow light that was suspiciously red.

"I am a product of failed birth control and a roofie. We've had this conversation before." I reminded.

"Ok, now remember, we're the _blue _team, it would be a disgrace to have a child of mine rooting for the wrong team." My dad chided like I was some sort of imbecile.

"Dad, I _know. _I'm not a fucking moron." I whined, noticing the high school drawing ever closer.

"Don't talk to me like that, I've seen your Political Science grades." He said with a chuckle. Stupid old man.

"Well I've seen your dirty magazines, so you better clamp it or I'll have a hayday on the Playboy black market." I sang.

"Watch it, I can put you up for adoption like that!" He snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Yeah, yeah, ok dad." I snipped, opening the car door eagerly.

"Hey, get your ass back home by ten or I'll fry it on the stove." He warned, pointing his finger at me suspiciously.

"Aren't you driving me?" I asked incredulously, pausing before exiting the car because this sort of threw a wrench in my plans.

"Uh…maybe. If I'm awake, then yes."

I only sighed outwardly. Then I popped out of the car and began the trek to the school doors.

"Don't have sex, or mistakes like you will happen!" He called.

"Trust me dad, nobody wants to have sex with me!" I called back.

"Seriously though, if you're hanging out with boys I'll murder you!"

"Will do!"

"Why did I ever have a child," was his last sentence before speeding away.

Aha, you see where my asshole-ishness comes from? It's all in the genes.

I hauled my fifty ton purse into the high school, which was packed. Damn it dad, I had arrived at six fifty two instead of the suggested six thirty and now I was more than likely to be solidly fucked.

But then again, Lucy and Levy came early and they promised to save me a seat so I might still be in luck.

It was cold as death outside, the wind a constant reminder that winter was coming and that I'd better start getting heavier coats because winter is a total bitch in Magnolia.

Finally, I made it inside, and to my utter disappointment, it was still extremely cold inside.

_Well what did you fucking expect, it's a hockey game for fuck's sake._

I brushed off the rudeness of my mind and attempted to locate a ticket stand where I could buy a game ticket. Yeah, that's right, they make you fucking pay for this garbage. What a load of crap, I can watch hockey for free on my TV.

…Yikes, I'm sounding more and more like my father every day.

I followed the crowd to a ticket stand, sending a text to Lucy that I had made it and where I should look for the seats.

Just then, a group of hockey players walked past from behind the ticket stand, all testosterone and adrenaline as they seemingly made their way towards the vending machines.

Ah, thank fuck it was my turn to buy a damn ticket. If the chick in front of me said the word like one more fucking time I'd probably have to serve time for manslaughter.

I rummaged through my purse in order to find my wallet, which was somewhere in the mess of lip gloss and whatever other garbage I had sent into hibernation. Fucking where's Waldo is easier than this, god fucking damn…

"I _told _you to come at six thirty."

You've gotta be kidding me.

"Hold this," I said abruptly, tossing Gray my purse as I rifled through my wallet to grab the five dollars they required.

"_Shit _what the hell did you pack in here? Your entire life?" He asked, balancing a packet of skittles (which he had most likely gotten from the vending machine) and my purse while fully decked out in his hockey shit and skates.

I gotta admit, that takes talent.

After paying for my ticket, I walked past him and closed my wallet, slightly forgetting that he was still holding all my trash.

"Whoa, you're a smuggler?"

_Shit._

I whipped around and yanked my purse away from him, hoping that the ticket stand people didn't hear him.

"Shut the hell up, do you want me to get caught?" I whispered lowly, peeking in my purse to make sure everything was still intact.

Good. Everything was clear.

Gray _tsked. _"Shoulda known you were on the black market Juvia, I _might _just have to turn you in."

"It's just fucking Pepsi you asshole."

Right. I had been assigned with drinks for the game. Sort of a tradition my friends and I had, we were each assigned to bring something in so that we wouldn't have to pay for expensive in house food. Usually we did this for movie theaters (because fuck you if you think I'm going to spend eighty dollars on a bag of popcorn) but today worked too.

"I don't know, I think this is going to require some commission."

"Fuck you."

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you, but here are my demands. First, I want one of those Pepsis. Second, I need 50,000 dollars, _in cash, _delivered-"

I smacked my hand over his mouth. "How 'bout instead, you shut your trap and I won't damage your face. Sound like a fair deal?"

"I still want a Pepsi."

Begrudgingly, I reached into my purse and handed him one.

"Sweet. Remember," he turned around and jammed his thumbs to the number on his back that read _13. _"-I'm number thirteen." He walked (well, more like wobbled, it wasn't exactly easy for him to walk in skates) out to the arena.

_Idiot._

I walked over to the seating entrance, after receiving Lucy's text that said '_all the way to the left' _and went, well, left.

It didn't take long for me to spot them, Lisanna's icy hair, paired with Lucy's golden hair, and followed by Levy's sky hair was not something one misses. But the thing that really screwed me up was-

"-Gajeel?"

He looked up from his bag of pretzels, looking like he belonged there. "Hey Jubie."

"The fuck are you doing here?" I asked, shoving him to the side so that I could sit down.

"I invited him!" Levy objected, poking her little head to the side so I could see her around Gajeel. "I brought pretzels!"

I reached into my purse and surreptitiously handed out the bottles of Pepsi, still planning on interrogating Gajeel further.

"And I brought Starbursts, Lis brought chips." Lucy butted in, throwing a couple starbursts at me along with a bag of potato chips.

"Er…thanks, but why did you guys invite Gajeel?" I said, saying 'Gajeel' like he was some sort of sexually transmitted disease.

"Don't be rude Juvia! He's nice." Levy defended. Psh, that's easy for her to say, _everybody _was nice to Levy.

"He's a shitfalcon of a human being." I argued back.

"Love you too." He said in between a sip of Pepsi.

"Just give him a chance Juvia, you don't even know him." Levy drawled.

That's what she _thinks._

I turned to Gajeel. "Just letting you know in advance, if you touch any of them I will fuck up your crotch so that it looks like a person who jumped off the EmpireStateBuilding."

"Aye aye," he croaked, weakly saluting me and looking back on the ice, watching the players practice lazily.

"Oh my god, you guys will _never _guess what Erza texted me a yesterday! She said she saw Juvia talking to _Natsu! _Lucy, she can hook you guys up!" Lisanna said exuberantly, while Lucy blushed.

_Wait, what?_

"It was nothing, he's just in a group project with us." I gestured to Gajeel for 'us' and prayed that they would all just drop it.

"You know, that's really weird, lately Juvia has been talking to a _lot of different guys_…" Lisanna hinted, moving her silvery eyebrows up and down and I resisted the urge to shove the bag of pretzels down her throat.

"That's just cuz she's a prostitute-_ouch!_" I elbowed Gajeel in the gut to cut him off mid-sentence.

"Yeah, like Gajeel, Natsu, _Gray…_" Levy listed, her cutesy smile getting a lot less cute by the second. Gajeel eyed me knowingly, oh yeah, that's right, he knows about my bitch ass huge crush on him…me and my stupid fat mouth.

"I'm just a social person Levy." I reasoned with a shrug.

That has got to be the shittiest lie I've ever told in my entire existence.

Lucy was laughing. Dammit even _Lucy _knows I hate socialization.

Gajeel bent over to conceal the fact that he was laughing, but, to my astonishment, Lisanna was the one who rescued me.

"Ooh, look! The game is starting!"

Everybody's eyes simultaneously darted to the ice, where the players had lined up, probably for the national anthem or some shit.

Truth be told, the anthem was sung by some theater nerd who I'm pretty sure I once called a hyperactive bitch.

Her voice was alright, but she waved her hands around like she was having a seizure while she sang.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Gray noticing the same thing and trying to hold his laughter in.

And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad Lucy had gotten us close seats.

I didn't notice that I'd been grinning like a psychopath until Gajeel hip checked me.

"Hey Hannibal, you gonna eat some Fullbuster dick for breakfast?" He whispered.

Ah yes, I think I'll write '_if only he wasn't such a little fucktard' _on his gravestone.

"Why don't you shut your damn mouth." I said, not meeting his gaze.

A few minutes passed as the game began, mostly just setting up positions and flipping coins and shit. Boring, but I was counting on the game to be as exciting as my dad made it out to be.

Gajeel, leaned down, probably to whisper something to me.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he's looking for someone."

He didn't even say who, but I knew. I definitely knew.

"S-shut up." I mumbled, a blush biting my cheeks. He snorted, probably amused by my girly-ass crush.

I didn't even realize that the game had started until six players whizzed past me, probably Gray included.

"Holy shit! They're so fast!" I marveled. These assholes could skate faster than I could swim, and that was an accomplishment.

"Damn right. That's why we're goin' to State." Gajeel said as a matter-o-factly. I didn't know that Gajeel was a hockey fan. "And your Fullbuster guy is the best we've got."

I blushed, yet again. "He's not _my _Fullbuster, he's just…my friend."

Great. Even _I've _admitted to our friendship.

"Keep tellin' yourself that." He mumbled, grinning wolfishly at my discomfort.

A puck slammed against the glass in front of me, shortly followed by six other guys, jolting me out of my daze. The puck was almost invisible, it was extremely hard to tell what was happening. So I settled for the next best thing.

"Gajeel, what's happening?" I tugged on his sleeve and stood on my tip toes, trying to see which side of the ice the puck was on.

"Not much has happened, but your lover boy had a pretty good shot a little bit ago. These guys really aren't a threat." Gajeel explained, his eyes continuously trained on the ice.

"Gajeel, shut the fuck up." I grumbled, peering over the heads of people in front of me to see better.

It was definitely exciting, I could see why my dad liked it so much. One second they'd be by the goal the next second they'd be sucker punching each other in the faces. So attractive.

Then again, when it was _Gray _who was doing it, then it most definitely was.

He was incredible. You could easily tell he was the best player, the other team practically rode up his ass because they knew that his team would almost always pass to him.

Damn him. Damn him and his stupid ass perfectness. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was Satan. Yup, that's it. Gray is Satan.

My eyes stayed glued to Graytan (eheheeh) for fifteen whole minutes, watching him skate, watching him slam into other player, watching ice spray from the bottom of him skates.

Maybe I should leave. I could drown the entire stadium with the drool I was most likely producing.

"Hey! Juvia!"

Ah, _fuck._

"Juvia! Juvia, it's me, Natsu! Juvia!"

Motherfucker. This is not what I needed. I didn't need this deranged pink badger to annoy the ever loving shit out of me for the next hour.

He sidled up next to me, pressing his face uncomfortably close to mine.

"So I was _riiiight_," he sang, nudging me obnoxiously with his elbow.

"Touch me one more time and I'll drown you."

"_Oookay, _but I _was _right." He revered back to the original topic, taking a mini step away from me. "Hey Lucy."

Lucy looked over and waved cutely before turning to Levy and giggling. Fuck, I forgot about that.

I glared sharply at him before answering. "Right about what?"

He smirked. "About you liking Gray, of course."

Seriously? Is fucking _everybody _out to piss me off via Gray?

"_No_, I do not, I came to be nice." I said flatly.

"No she didn't, Juvia hates being nice." Gajeel said tersely before turning around to talk to Levy again. Bastard, he knows I'll kill him later.

"Suuuuure. But still, you think he's hot, right? This is really good, by the way, Gray needs a girl. He's such a fucking loser, you know. All he cares about is hockey, his future, and…I don't know, I don't really listen to his 'come feel bad for me' shit." Natsu rambled.

…Alright, so now I'm seeing why Gray comes to _me _for company. He's got the shittiest friends I've ever seen.

"You know what Nastu? I'm pretty sure you're the third person today that I've decided to sacrifice."

He froze for a minute, like he didn't understand what I was saying, but slowly, very slowly, he backed away from me, until he was full on sprinting back to his seat.

"What'd Natsu say to you?" Lisanna asked hopefully.

"Ah, he wanted to know when our project was due." I covered, casually (ok, not so casually) looking back at the game (at Gray).

Suddenly a buzzer went off, and everybody started cheering.

"Wait, wait, what happened?" I asked confusedly, punching Gajeel's arm until I got an answer.

"Weren't ya watching? Loke just fucked the goal!"

I wasn't sure what 'fucked the goal' meant, but everybody seemed excited and happy, so I figured that meant he scored a goal.

I felt bad that I missed it, Gray had asked me to come so that I could watch the game and so far I was doing a pretty shitty job of it.

I stood up on my chair, barely balancing by clutching to Gajeel's shoulder. I was instantly astonished by how much I could see, even the puck was in my vision!

Of course, that all changed when some guy on the other team slammed it across the rink and out of sight.

"Dammit," I burst out, pressing my toes to the bench and peeking up, relying on the swarm of players to tell me where the puck was.

"Gajeel, tell me what the hell is going on," I commanded, not allowing myself to look away from the ice.

"Well, the goalie just deflected a shot, and since the centre…."

Blah blah _blah. _

"Just tell me who's winning!" I screamed, pulling at his long hair.

"Ouch! We are, dammit!"

"Oh, well that's-oh shit! Oh shit, holy shit!" I practically punched Gajeel in surprise.

"What, what happened? I missed it because your fat ass was in the way!"

"Shit! Some dude just fuckin' decked Gray!"

"That kind of crap happens all the time. Would you calm down? You sound like a baked groupie." Gajeel sat back down.

"Oh my god! I think he's bleeding! Are you sure this is normal?" I tried to mentally zoom in on Gray, who had his face covered by his arm annoyingly.

"Relax, it's pretty much halftime, he'll have a few minutes to recuperate." Gajeel leaned back and stared at the ceiling ominously.

"There's no way this is normal. He's literally bleeding all over the ice, is that a health code violation?" I speculated, peering over the stands to see the mess that the hockey players had made.

All of a sudden, a giant annoying buzzing noise echoed throughout the stadium.

"Halftime" Gajeel announced, tapping his imaginary watch as if saying 'I-told-you-so'.

"Shut up Gajeel, go fuck a wet towel."

"Drink a dick spice latte."

"Punch yourself in the ovaries."

"Stick a hockey stick up your ass"

"Touch a-"

Lucy interrupted me by shrieking loudly and waving her hands like a lost penguin.

"Where's my bag!? I think I lost it, I can't find it!"

Her cries of worry sent everyone around her into a frenzy, practically diving into the popcorn-and-pepsi soiled cement floors in search for her lost bag.

"Hey! Wait! I see it, down there!" Lisanna called, pointing down at the bottom of the seats beside the rink. It must have fallen down earlier.

"I'll get it," I assured, stepping past stupid people who refused to walk faster than the speed of slowness down the steps.

"Wait, what's happening?" I heard Gajeel asked. Hm, hopefully Levy would brief him on the situation.

When I finally arrived at the base of the steps (albeit slowly, do people not know how to walk these days? It's literally not that hard, left foot, right foot, left foot…and so on) I hurried to grab Lucy's bag, praying that no dimensionally challenged folks stepped on it.

I tucked the bag into my fluffy scarf, not wanting to risk dropping it on the ground again.

Lucy waved at me from our spot, giving me an encouraging thumbs up. She was nervous, she covered it well, but I could always tell when she was scared.

When I got up to her, I thrusted the bag into her arms, making sure she would calm down and just breathe.

"Th-thanks, Levy, could you grab my counter?"

This was perfectly normal, Levy was Lucy's designated calorie counter. You might ask, 'wow, is Lucy one of those huge freaks who constantly checks how many calories she eats to lose weight?' and if you ever asked that to her face, I wouls kindly pull you aside and throw you off a cliff, but in order for convenience, _no, _Lucy is not one of those people.

To keep herself physically _alive, _she has to count her calories. Diabetes does that to people.

"Do you want to go to the bathroom Lucy? You should probably wash your hands first." Lisanna chimed in.

Ah yes, the pickle disaster of 2012. Lucy had been eating a pickle only minutes before she was to check her blood sugar, and being the silly little blonde she was, forgot to wash her hands, and had a seizure and a half when her blood sugar was more than double what it should be.

One trip to the hospital later, all of us learned an important lesson. Pickles are demon penises, and you should never, under any circumstances, eat them.

"Oh, yeah, probably." Lucy blushed in embarrassment and stood up, followed by Levy, and then me. I just wanted to come and make sure that everything was all right.

"Do you feel sick at all?" Levy asked kindly.

"No, no, I just got really worried there, is all." She said timidly, her teeth reaching her bottom lip as we all huddled into the bathroom.

While Lucy washed her hands, Levy and I stood guard near the door. Lucy hated when people pitied her because of her disease, and I didn't blame her one bit. So we generally kept it a secret.

Which…now that I think about it…is sort of a horrible idea…

"Ok, Levy, can you grab the insulin?"

Levy assisted Lucy, seeing as she was completely familiar with her routine. I told her that she had to inject it into her stomach.

I was 100% used to Lucy's needles, I'd injected her before and even though it may seem gross or creepy at first it's actually not that bad. Well, for me anyway. I shouldn't really speak for Lucy, who, you know, actually gets impaled by the needle.

"Ok, done." Levy retracted the needle with a proud smile.

And then, we all had the ever loving bajeezus scared out of us when the door busted open with a vicious slam.

Levy, still wielding Lucy's needle, held it in front of her like a sword and Lucy was cowering behind her little black bag.

Six huge hockey players barreled in, all talking and laughing.

"Are we…are we in the guy's bathroom?" Levy squeaked, still refusing to move the needle.

Lucy looked around, probably in search of a spare urinal.

"I don't…think so…" she concluded. The players had still neglected to notice us, laughing and talking and walking over to the dispenser thingy.

"Uh…excuse us?" Levy asked, attempting to get the tallest players attention that was closest to us.

He turned around, and I recognized him, just barely.

"Oh! Ah, shit, we're sorry, we didn't think anyone was in here." He apologized, the other players still busy doing…whatever the hell they were doing.

"Kind of a stupid assumption, it's halftime, right?" I asked dryly, sounding a lot bitchier than I had intended.

He studied me for a second. "Oh…ah! I know you, you're…Julie? Something? I saw you at the swim meet."

I wasn't sure whether to be offended, or just creeped out.

"Yeah. Something like that. Why are you here?" I gestured to the girls bathroom with a wild shrug.

"Oh, right. We're getting tampons."

Ah, of course, why didn't I assume that?

"Why." Lucy asked, well, more like _told. _

"For Gray's nose! Coach always makes us use them, they work better than tissues, or whatever." He shrugged.

Hm…I'm 87% positive his name is something _really _stupid, like, 'fighter' or some other weird star wars-ish name.

"You're seriously just going to shove a tampon up Gray's nose?" I said, not really trying to prevent the eruption of giggles from my mouth.

"Hey, whatever works." The guy shrugged, and took notice of the other players who had gotten the tampon and were about to leave.

"Send me a picture," I bid, not able to picture Gray within the _vicinity _of a tampon. I don't know, I guess his manly hotness just sort of…cancelled them out.

"I'm gonna need your number first," the guy shot back with a smirk.

Walked right into _that _one.

"Aha, funny. Good luck out there." I said, a lot more cheerfully than I actually was.

"Aw, what? I don't get your digits?" The guy asked, a silly smile on his face.

Well…the guy wasn't _too _creepy…he was giving off the sort of big-brother vibe, or whatever you call it. And it wasn't like he was actually going to text me anyways.

"Well…sure…" I said slowly. He smiled with half of his mouth, before pulling his phone from god knows where.

I rattled off my phone number to him quickly, a shocked, and stunned, Levy and Lucy behind me.

It _did _feel a _teensy _bit nice to get noticed.

_Teensy, tinsy. _But still there.

"It's Juvia, by the way." I said, figuring that if I gave this dude my phone number he should probably take my name with it.

"I'm Sting. But I bet you already knew that." He winked and walked away, but not before running into the bathroom door and awkwardly scooting away.

**(before you guys freak out, FUCK NO I am not trying to put a lame ass love triangle in using STING for fucks sakes, he is simply there for a different reason.)**

**(and also, sting. I needed him in this story.)**

"Juvia! That was…"

"You just gave that guy your…"

"And he was cute!" Lucy finished, shaking my shoulders.

"Oh, relax, it's not like he's actually going to text me." I repeated rationally, opening the bathroom door to escort her out.

"Oh, but did you see that? He was hitting on you! Oh my god, Juvia! This is so exciting! Oh I have to tell Erza, and Lisanna, and Jellal, and…" As Lucy listed off the entire student body, I tried to remember where I had seen Sting before.

It was something big…and it was just on the tip of my…

"-oooh! And Mr. Hammond! He'll want to know as well!"

I resisted the urge to smash my head through the glass that separated the rink from the stands. Was this really necessary?

"Maybe I should just put a banner around the whole school!" Lucy shouted, clapping her hands together like a walrus from Seaworld.

"Yeah Luce, it'll say 'local girl gives phone number to guy, rejoice!'" I said sarcastically.

"Come on Ju-Ju, you of all people should be excited about this!" Levy scolded.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." I said blankly, sidling back up to our seats. The players had already returned to the ice, and I found myself searching for Gray.

"What took you guys so long?" Gajeel asked, munching on pretzels absently as I took my seat.

"We ran into some people. Has the game started, or what?" I asked, unsure because the players were moving, but not very fast.

"No, we got about a minute. Is blondie alive?" He looked over at Lucy to make sure that she was indeed conscious.

"Yeah, she just dropped her bag was all." I shrugged it off as the buzzer went off.

"_Now _it's starting."

After a few minutes (or was it hours? I couldn't really tell with this game…) some guy got slammed into the wall and had to be shipped out into an ambulance.

Gajeel, once again, assured me that it was perfectly normal but I had my doubts.

Then it all started dying down, you could tell the game was almost over because the snack bar with ridiculously over priced snacks from hell had closed up and people had begun leaving early to beat traffic.

But now that a solid quarter of the people had left, I could perfectly see the game.

"Ooh look! Gajeel! That guy's got the puck!"

"Yup."

"Ohmygosh, now _that _guy took it!"

"Uh huh."

"Holy shit! It just went flying! This is crazy!"

"God."

With Gajeel quickly getting irritated with my wonder, I was glad that the game was almost over. But still, I could feel myself drawing closer to the game. It was really exciting, you could never tell who was winning or losing. Gajeel begged to differ, but I told him to shut up so that dilemma is solved.

The clocky timer thing was down to only a few seconds, and Gray had the puck.

I would be a complete bitch-ass liar if I said I thought he wasn't going to make a goal within the last second like some super hockey god ninja.

Suddenly he came to a speeding halt and his hockey stick flew out in front of him. I think. I don't know, it was impossible to tell he went so fast.

"Gajeel, what happene-"

A buzzer went off and I heard cheering. We must've won.

I mean, we were winning anyways, but I'm not sure if Gray had made that goal or not…

But soon Gajeel was standing next to me, clapping.

"That was fuckin' awesome. We just made it to state." He rejoiced, throwing and empty pepsi bottle at the ice.

Then I really realized how exciting this was. We just made it to _state. _The state championship, and Gray had made it.

…All the more pressure to go to a big time University.

I sighed, digging my cool hands in my sweatshirt pockets and burying my cheeks and chin into my scarf.

I lightly pulled my phone out of my pocket.

And then I screamed.

Like a _loud _scream, but it was sort of muffled because I was pretty shocked so my voice kind of died mid-screech.

_Fuck you Sting._

That absolute dickburger had sent me a picture, of _Gray, _vERY MUCH SHIRTLESS. In the locker room, wearing his hockey pants, flipping off the camera, holding a tampon.

I've never seen something so gorgeously hilarious in my entire existence.

So I laid there on the bleachers, you know, _convulsing, _with Gajeel staring at me, frightened.

"What. The. Fuck?" He asked, just…_staring. _It was a good thing that Levy, Lucy, and Lisanna had all left early, or they would've suspected something. Insanity, probably.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just…sorry…" I wiped stray tears from my eyes as I attempted to send a jumbled response back to Sting.

Ok, just _one _more look, surely his probably rock hard attractive chest muscles won't kill me in one glance, right?

Wrong. Wrong, I was wrong I WAS WRONG.

"Shit Jubes, do you need an ambulance?" Gajeel asked, scratching the side of his head worriedly.

"No. I'm fine." I said, my voice muffled by my scarf.

"Suit yourself. See you Monday." Gajeel started walking down the street. Lucky bastard, he lives a block away from the school he can just sleep in until seven twenty and still be on time for school.

Oh wait. Fuck, I'm alone.

I texted my dad to come pick me up, praying that he was still awake and not watching TV.

Surprisingly, he texted back rather quickly, telling me he'd be here in five.

Plus, the game had ended at nine thirty. No ass-frying for me, I'd make it home by my dad's half-assedly set curfew.

Looks like my butt-fucking-shitty luck has just run out, and it was time for a small dose of actual, fire-breathing good luck.

Plus, I now had a shirtless picture of Gray in my possession.

Ok, ok. I'll only look at it…once a week. Maybe twice. Depends on how my week is going. I might actually die from the amount of nosebleeds that that picture will surely give me.

Which is actually ironic, because his nose is bleeding in the picture.

Dammit, why can't I just be hilarious?

No new texts from my dad had arrived. Great, just brilliant, really. This is exactly what I needed, to spend time, alone, sitting on the curb like a total weirdo freezing my ass cheeks off.

Ok, I just need to calm down; it's only been a few minutes…just a few minutes.

To distract myself, I slipped my phone back out and texted Sting back.

_wtf dont text me porn_

I slid my phone into my scarf for easy access and went back to drowning in my own thoughts.

The parking lot was empty now, well, save a few cars towards the back, but those were probably just the janitor's cars.

And there was no way in the depths of hell that I was going to ask them for a ride.

Ok, ten minutes. That's fine, that's fine. He's still got time.

My phone buzzed and I pulled it out quickly to distract myself.

Sting.

_its not porn if his vagina isnt showing_

Ah, I could already tell that we were going to get along _very _well. But I still couldn't quite put my finger on where I remembered him from, but I knew it was something big.

_but his boobs are still showing. get your child porn away from me._

Ha ha. I'm funny on Sundays, I promise.

The stars looked nice tonight. You could actually see them, usually the lights of the city or the neighborhood drowned them out, but I could spot every circumpolar right now if I wanted to.

_Ah, ok. Draco…Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cassopoiopia, or whatever you call it…and…what's the other one? Cygnus? Papyrus? No, I'm positive it started with a C…_

While I pondered the whereabouts of the final constellation, I simultaneously hoped that my dad would actually bloody _show up. _

This would definitely not be the first time I'd been stranded, it happened mostly at swim practices. My dad would text me a simple _on my way _and like a total dumb asshole I would believe him. And then, an agonizing hour and a half later, he would arrive and claimed to have been 'robbed by teens' or 'struck with a double heart attack' when we both very well knew that he had been distracted by something shiny. And by shiny I mean the TV.

And it wasn't like my mom would interfere, I'm pretty sure today was her MFCT meeting. It's nit actually called MFCT, that's just what my dad and I call it. It stands for Moms for Channing Tatum, because lord knows that's the only thing they talk about. She said it was something like an 'educational book related talk session'? But she was fooling absolutely no one, especially with the obscene amount of wine bottles she brought to each meeting.

The street was completely dark. This only served to piss me off further, because it was just now dawning on me that my dad probably wasn't going to get here. Ever, in fact. I would not be surprised if he had sent me the text, and then subsequently fell asleep.

To make matters worse, the school doors were locked so I had no way of getting back to the warm, heated building. I was doomed to get my ass frozen solid to the curb.

My funeral will be nice. You know, dark flowers, not an open casket (come on guys, that's gross. Nobody wants to see my dead face) soft music, my mom crying and being a total attention whore…

_Swoosh!_

"-The difference is, I don't fucking give a shit about that. All I care about is that your position at state is not jeopardized."

"Oh, would you shut the fuck up?! I'll be fine, if you could just stop acting like a goddamn _mom_-"

"See? You don't get it, do you? This is the biggest opportunity of your _life, _determines whether or not you get a full scholarship to the U!"

"Well, maybe I don't-"

This is exactly what I fucking needed. This is the equivalent of getting stage three terminal brain cancer.

"Ah, my favourite hobo."

Stab my lower intestine.

"Hey Gray."

He sized me up, and I could imagine his half amused half calculating smile that he was probably wearing.

"You uh…you waiting for someone?" He asked, a smile breaking through his voice.

"Yes Gray. I'm waiting for my horse and buggy, which was scheduled to arrive at nine thirty." I said tiredly.

"So that's a no." He said more than asked.

"Pretty much." I yawned.

"You're just going to sit here? All night?" He asked amusedly.

"Hopefully only until one. I've got shit to do tomorrow." I mumbled.

A car drove up, and I realized that it must've been Lyon, Gray's friend, or brother, or whatever he was, that he was arguing with.

"Gray, get your ass in the car." He said after rolling down the window conspicuously and shooting me a friendly glare.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on Juvia." He motioned for me to stand up as he opened his car door.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

"Get in. We're driving you home." He said simply, leaning down so that I could take his hand.

"We most certainly _are not_." Lyon intercepted, turning back to argue with Gray.

"Shut the fuck up Lyon, it's not like you have some place to be." Gray rolled his eyes and took my hand without my consent, pulling me into the car with ease.

"Well, I-"

"_Can't _stay out at night. It's not safe. Raccoons and such." Gray interrupted. Lyon rolled his icy eyes in the mirror and began to drive.

"Where do you live?' He grumbled.

"Uh…just off of Cliff, and to the left of Curry." I mumbled.

I was in Gray's car.

"Gray, as I was saying, I want you at the rink _all of tomorrow. _You were sucking ass out there today, if you're like that at state you'll never get into the University."

There was so much fire in Gray's eyes; I probably could've roasted marshmallows over them.

"I _can't, _I'm going to the hills tomorrow for school." Gray argued back, a bite in the edge of his words.

Oh yeah, _shit _that's tomorrow…

"Fuck the hills! You need _practice_, state is in two weeks! And you're dicking around with girls; get your ass into gear." Lyon growled, speeding through a dangerously red light.

Oh, he was talking about me. So I'm the five dollar Florida whore now.

"Go to hell Lyon, not everything is about the goddamn University." Gray said, his voice far beyond annoyed and trekking into beat-im-up ville.

"Are you fucking serious? I'm looking out for you, this college is your future!" Lyon yelled.

"This isn't about me! This is about _you, _and your failed college dreams. There are other colleges you know." Gray bit back.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Lyon asked darkly.

"Like Holy Angels!"

Aw, that's cute. He used my college.

Lyon laughed coldly. "What the _fuck _is that?"

Ok, _wow. _Eat a dick Lyon.

"What do you mean, what the fuck is that? It's a school." I shot, immediately regretting diving face first into their argument.

"A shitty school, never heard of it." Lyon reasoned.

"Well no offense, but what you've never heard of could fill a warehouse!" I flung.

Whoops. Strike three for Juvia. I'm dead, that's it. My sassiness finally dug me a six foot grave.

At least Gray was happy. He was laughing his ass off.

Lyon however, looked like his face was about to explode.

"Jesus Gray, where the _fuck _did you find her?" He finally asked, like I was some cheap how he could pay to see.

"You've probably never heard of it." Gray said slyly, catching my eye.

_Dammit _he's so sinfully sexy without even trying _why would you do this to me?_

"Shut up Gray! You'd better be at the hills for less than an hour." He stewed. I was actually kind of proud now, I'd shoved him in his place. Asshole.

I spotted my house, dimly lit by the nearest streetlight.

"Uh…thanks. For the ride." I said awkwardly, climbing out of the car.

"I'll walk you up." Gray said, almost excitedly.

Shit. Fuck. He's walking me to the door? Why is he doing that? This isn't a date?!

Every alarm in my brain went off, it was annoying, like one giant fire alarm extravaganza and all that was happening was Gray was walking me to my front door.

"Thanks. I don't think I've ever seen Lyon at a loss for words." He thanked, even though I should be the one thanking him for not letting me freeze to death like the dude from the goddamn shining on the street.

"Well, he deserved it." I reasoned. He really was pushy when it came to college, I could see why Gray was having such a hard time with him on that deal.

When we finally got up to the door, I was expecting Gray to leave, but he lingered when I knocked on the door hesitantly.

_Shit. What time is it anyway?_

I sideways glanced at y phone through my scarf, seeing that the time was indeed fifteen past.

Shit.

I knocked again, this time to be met with my mother's loud voice.

"I'm coming, I'm coming…who in the _world _could be here at this hour…"

_Oh, I don't know, maybe your half frozen daughter?_

My mom opened the door, and to my absolute and utter horror, was completely decked out in one of those gross greenish cucumber mask thingies and she had her fluffy ink robe on and was holding a half empty bottle of wine.

"Juvia! What on _earth _are you doing here this late?! Mark! _Mark! _Get your ass over here!" My mom screeched, chucking the cucumbers onto the ground and glaring.

"You are far past curfew, I have been worried _sick-_"

_Oh yeah mom, I can really tell._

"-Your father and I were _this _close to calling the police-"

"What? What's happening? Fire?" My dad asked groggily, clearly being recently awoken from a nap.

"Mark! Your daughter is _late!" _My mom cried shrilly.

I was very, very close to just walking back to the front yard and just telling Lyon to run me over. _Very _close. My family had still refused to acknowledge Gray's presence.

"What? I told you if you got here past ten, I'd fry your ass on the stove!?"

Finally, I spoke up. "Well it's not _my _fault, you _said _you were coming to pick me up!"

"No I didn't!"

"It's right here, on my phone!" I held it up so that my family could see.

"You should've gotten a ride from a friend then!" My mom argued.

"I did!" I yanked Gray's arm up and waved it around, not realizing my mistake.

My family froze, and slowly peered out the door to examine Gray's sheepish face.

"Hi." He said weakly.

My mother's dangerous face immediately turned warm, and my dad went from crazy shotgun dad to fangirl dad.

"You're Gray Fullbuster." My dad said. Oh _god _I wanted to punch him, if he asked for an autograph I _swear…_

"Uh…yeah. Sir." Gray said, unsure of how to react.

My dad smiled and laughed. "Well, if I knew it was you, I wouldn't have made such a scene! You're practically carrying our team to state!" My dad cheered.

My fake smile was wearing thin. I'm pretty sure I looked like Heath Ledger, too.

"Oh, uh. Thank you." Gray said modestly.

"No problem, say, the night's still young, you two have some fun."

And now I'm coughing. And choking loudly.

"What?" I coughed out, holding my scarf until my knuckles turned white.

"Well, I thought you'd be out partying, but you're with a responsible sports star." My dad reasoned, although his reasoning seemed to be shadowed by a large amount of drugs.

"Dad, are you doing crystal meth? Are you high? Just because he's your favorite sports player doesn't mean you can ship him off with some cash and a ring and it's all done!"

Aaaand I just bought myself a one way ticket to house jail. Fuck.

…My dad didn't seem fazed at all.

"If only it were that simple. Instead, I get to pay for your college." My dad shrugged and I died.

Yup. That's it. End of story. Juvia died at the end of chapter four, or whatever fucking chapter we're on. All done.

"I thought you didn't know I played hockey." Gray whispered under his breath, his eyes glued to mine. Shit. Blew myself on that one.

"I thought you were a different Gray Fullbuster." I whispered back, hopefully allowing him to drop it.

He was about to say something else, but I interrupted loudly.

"Well, it's late, and we have a school project tomorrow. I should probably turn in…" I lazily snuck through the door only to be stopped by my father.

"A group project? Sounds fun, are you two going to be alone?" My mom asked sneakily. _God _I want to fucking murder them.

"_No. _Two other people are coming, we're just going to the hills." I muttered.

"I bet you want me to drive you again." My dad said monotonously.

"That's ok, I've got a car, I'll drive her." Gray interrupted. Well shit.

"_Thank _you Gray. For everything. And you can go now." I said, hoping my voice wasn't too panicky.

"Sounds great! And afterwards, you lot can come in and watch the game! It's the least we can offer you, since you were sweet enough to drive our daughter home." My mom said sweetly.

Oh god. I'm gonna puke. I'm gonna straight up die from embarrassment. Sorry Gray, for leaving you alone with Lisanna and Cobra, but I'm  
>going to a better place.<p>

"That sounds nice." Gray said, surprisingly sounding happy.

"Great, we'll see you then!" My dad said, sounding very fake dad-like. God, we're not the fucking brady bunch. Don't leave me Gray, save me!

"See you tomorrow Juvia," Gray waved, giving me a one finger salute that was honestly really sexy and now I kind of just want to lick him.

Fuck. I'm literally so screwed.

Do you know what my original plane was? It was to grow the fuck up, never, _ever, _fucking talk to Gray, go the fuck to college, and get a fucking life. Gray literally fucked up that plan so much only a sponge would be able to clean up the mess.

The car drove away speedily, with Lyon probably extremely eager to get the hell away from me. I don't blame him, my luck could light a four leaf clover on fire.

"What the fuck was that?!" I asked accusingly, looking at my parents with their fake sappy cutesiness.

My mom dropped the act immediately. "Oh come _on _Juvia, he was a perfect 10! I want my legacy to be supermodels!" She hip checked e and sauntered back to the kitchen.

"And I want my grandkids to play hockey. This is really the only thing in life we agree on." My dad reasoned, gesturing to my mom and shrugging.

Ok, so my parents ship the fuck out of Gray and me. Shit.

"Alright, well, I'm just gonna go jump out my bedroom window, ok?" I asked rhetorically, stomping up to my room and throwing myself on my bed.

Fuck you, Gray Fullbuster.

**sor**ry **for the shittyness. thank you guys for all of your reviews! feelfree to ask me any questions you have or whatever but yeah review I like when ppl do that**


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